Within the Eternity Circle
by Sig Uchiha
Summary: Instead of getting drawn into the shadowy organization Xcution, a tired of being powerless Kurosaki Ichigo forms an unlikely partnership with the mysterious Harry Potter, the Master Of Death. No yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

Within the Eternity Circle

Chapter 1: He Who Conquered Death

**Name:** Kurosaki Ichigo

**Age: **17

**Eye Color: **Brown

**Hair Color: **Orange

**Occupation: **Ex-Soul Reaper, High school Student, part-time worker at Unagiya Shop

**Notable Achievements: **Achieving Shikai in one day, Invading the Soul Society, achieving Bankai within two days, Invading Hueco Mundo, overtaking Las Noches, defeating an immortal in single combat, saved the world

Ichigo muttered to himself as he focused on the page below him, willing the black ink that made up it's text to make sense. He knew this, he was sure of it. The questions were just mathematics, he had this. It was easy, he was sure of it.

Ichigo just had to focus on his work and ignore everything else, like the fact that Chad had been missing from class for over ten minutes. He had rushed to his feet during the beginning of the test and scrambled out claiming bathroom problems. Which was a lie, of course. The whole class knew it, the substitute knew it, and Ichigo knew it.

Chad had to be fighting a hollow that was the only reason he'd be gone for this long. Inoue and Ishida had somewhat worried looks on their faces, so Ichigo could only guess that it was a strong one. He wondered what level it was, or if Chad was just taking his time fighting it...

_No!_ Ichigo snapped at himself. _Stay focused! Forget about it! That isn't your problem anymore!_ He ran his hand roughly through his orange hair and glared down at his test sheet, determined to ignore anything relating to the supernatural. The spiritual world wasn't his scene anymore, so what if Chad was fighting a hollow? So what?

It wasn't like he and Chad really hung out all that much anymore, Ichigo was busy adjusting to a normal human life and Chad was doing his own thing. Which happened to be practicing with his band and fighting any of the Hollows that wandered their way into Karakura town.

It wasn't any big horrific split, they just grew apart. Ichigo had to pick his life up from the gutter, and Chad was doing what he was doing with Inoue and Ishida. It was no one's fault, Ichigo's friends were just part of a world that he didn't belong in. Hanging out with them would cause him to wonder, or it would put him in danger.

Because Ichigo was too weak to defend himself, especially from invisible monsters that ate souls; some of which were the size of builds and had uniquely gruesome abilities. But it was fine, in its own way. Ichigo didn't miss the annoying buzz of ghosts as they followed him everywhere.

He didn't miss the painful and terrifying fights that he put himself through. He didn't miss the battles or sacrifices that he made. He didn't miss being a Soul Reaper at all; it was a thankless job, why would he miss it? The robes were stupid, the rules were stupid, and he had never even gotten paid for doing it.

Ichigo's family and home was safe. His debt to Rukia was paid. In fact, she and the entire world _owed him_, not that anyone would admit it. He had saved the world and didn't even get a cheerful 'good job' or a slap on the back. Or a thank you. At all.

Being a Soul Reaper was a thankless job.

So what if he and his team had grown apart? So what, if he hadn't heard a peep from the Soul Society in over a year? It was really funny, that even Urahara disappeared from the radar too and Ichigo hadn't seen any annoying black cats in a long time. So what?

Ichigo bit his lip and kept his gaze downward. Suddenly, he just wanted to jump up and punch someone in the face. To just let all of this _anger_ out on someone, someone that Ichigo could beat the hell out of and get beaten up in return.

A soft hand rested on his shoulder and Ichigo almost jumped out of his skin. It was only then did he realize that his eyes were closed painfully tight and his fists were clenched in something resembling rage. It took a few seconds, but he managed to take a deep breath and look to his right.

Tatsuki sat to the side of him, several inches away in a desk of her own. Her sheet was turned upside down to hide its answers from cheaters. Her hand was resting on his shoulder while her brown eyes stared into his. Slowly, she moved her hand back to her lap, but her gaze stayed locked to his.

Her features were a mixture of worried and confused, it was clear that she was wondering about just what made Ichigo so angry. But instead of responding to her in some positive way, Ichigo just shook his head and turned back to his test.

Tatsuki wouldn't understand. She wouldn't get what he was feeling and Ichigo didn't know how to tell her–hell, he didn't even know what he was feeling! He was stumbling from anger, to sadness, to depression, and sweet, sweet apathy. Ichigo was beginning to wonder if Ulquiorra had it right all along, emotions seemed really useless right now.

Ichigo stole a quick glance around the class and realized that Chad had came back sometime during his mini-funk. He hadn't even noticed when the large teen entered the classroom. Before he would have noticed, back when he had powers he would have noticed.

Ichigo spent the next several minutes wondering about the Hollow Chad fought before the bell rang and class ended. He quickly jumped from his seat, handed the test to the substitute, and was out the door before Tastuki could catch him.

He never did finish that test.

[-]

The next two classes passed quickly. Ichigo only had to avoid Tatsuki for one period, since they didn't have the same schedule. Soon enough he found himself alone on the roof with Keigo, of all people.

They stood together in silence, leaning against the roof's guardrail and overlooking Karakura Town. The silence wasn't thick or awkward, but Ichigo could tell that his friend was preparing to say something. They stood there for several more minutes before Keigo spoke up.

"Ichigo, are you alright man?" The brunette waited several seconds for an answer, but just got an runt in return. "Seriously dude, are you alright? Seriously."

Ichigo sighed before looking up to the sky. Great, now _Keigo_ was worried about him. Swell. "I'm fine. Why?"

Keigo stared at him for a long minute before replying, his words lacked any of his trademark goofiness. "I saw you in Math earlier; it looked like you were having a panic attack or something." He shrugged to himself before going on. "I dunno, I was just checking."

"Yeah, I'm alright." Ichigo lied to his friend with a smile on his face. "I'm fine. I ended up falling asleep in my seat and had a nightmare or something. When I woke up I had to stop myself from screaming my head off."

The lie was weak, way too weak, but Keigo seemed to take it at face value. "Oh, alright. What was it about? Clowns? Murderer? Zombie invasion, or alien invasion? Or...was it about Hollows? Soul Reapers? Or maybe some other bullshit reason you're planning on feeding me." But the end of his rant, Keigo was turned fully towards Ichigo and his gaze was far too serious.

Ichigo's reluctance to talk doubled and his desire to leave quadrupled the minute his friend finished speaking. He had no idea what to say, and he really didn't want to have this conversation with Keigo of all people. Actually, he'd much prefer that Keigo go back to being goofy and drop his seriousness. It was creeping him out.

"I'm fine." Ichigo grunted, keeping his gaze stretched over the buildings in the distance and not to his companion. "I said that _I am fine_." He growled out as Keigo opened his mouth to speak again. His friend's jaw closed with a snap and a frown while silence filled out between them once more; except this time it was strained.

After a while Keigo spoke up once again. "Something _is_ wrong." He ignored Ichigo's annoyed glare and continued to speak without pause. "During class, Tatsuki asked if I could get anything out of you. I guess she felt that you might've told me." Keigo's brown hair bounced as he shook his head and let out a bitter chuckle. "I don't know why, you've never told me anything important. Not really."

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow, where was _this_ coming from? "Hey, what the hell are you talking about? Of co–"

Keigo cut him off with a scoff. "Whatever man, I don't even care anymore." The teen flung his juice box off of the roof and turned away from Ichigo to gather his bag. "It doesn't even matter right now. Tatsuki said that if you wouldn't talk, she'd get you after school." Keigo pulled his schoolbag onto his shoulder and turned to leave.

"She said that she'd meet you by the front entrance, and to come right after class. She also said that if you don't, she'd sit in your house all day and kick your ass when you came home." Ending the conversation; Keigo skulked off grumbling underneath his breath.

Ichigo was left confused and alone on the guardrail, wondering just what the hell had happened.

[-]

Class was ending and Ichigo was gathering his notebook and school supplies in his bag with haste. He didn't fancy meeting with his violent, karate champion friend after school when she knew he had avoided her. Tatsuki was hard to handle at the best of times, he didn't need her being angry on top of that.

After shoving the last pencil in his pocket Ichigo rushed out the door without saying goodbye to Chad, Inoue, Ishida or anyone else. He didn't have the time for pleasantries if he wanted to avoid Tatsuki. The girl could be a damn bloodhound when she had enough motivation.

Moving quickly down the halls, Ichigo sped past students and teachers alike in his efforts to escape. He took the the rear stairway and jumped and skipped as many steps as he could before he reached the last flight and flung himself over it completely.

Landing easily, he was able to make his way over to the school's back entrance. Which was on the exact opposite side of the school that Tatsuki was waiting for him on. Normally students weren't supposed to use this exit, but Ichigo had broken more than a few school rules in his life and one more wouldn't hurt.

His hand was just about to touch the cold, metal of the doorway to freedom when an all too familiar voice sprung up behind him.

"And just where the hell do you think you're going?"

Gritting his teeth, Ichigo turned around to face his oldest friend. Her hands were on her hips and her stance was one of anger, annoyance, and aggravation. Those same emotions shown on her face and in her voice. This confrontation wouldn't bode well for him, and it also didn't help that Tatsuki caught him attempting to flee.

"Around." Ichigo muttered. "Why do you care? It isn't really any of your..." His voice died out as the look on Tatsuki's face got even more deadly as he carried on. It seemed that his particular choice of words weren't the best. Ichigo tried his best to backtrack, "What I mean is–"

"Why do I care...?" Tatsuki muttered darkly, as her hands began to clench. Ichigo took a step back in response, and pressed his back up against the door to freedom. Too bad it was a pull, and not a push. "Why do I care...? I can't believe you word ask that..._I can't_." Her head lowered and she took a powerful step forward. "_Believe_." She took a few more steps, "_That you_." Tatsuki was stomping forward now. "_Would say_." She was right in front of him! "_That_."

Very few inches separated them now. Ichigo realized that he was cornered, and if he tried to leave he would probably have to push Tatsuki away from him to escape. Which would probably lead to a fight with the way Tatsuki was right now.

He raked his eyes over her to take in just how upset she was. Her shoulders were squared and shaking with anger, and her hands were fisted tightly. Somewhere along the line she had dropped her schoolbag, and Ichigo was thankful for that. Now she couldn't hit him with it.

Tatsuki slowly raised her right hand, and with a snarl she slammed it into the wall just to the side of Ichigo's face. The _bang_ her action caused echoed in the air slightly, and Ichigo was reminded of just how alone they were.

She raised her head to look him in the eye, and he noticed that her teeth were bared in anger. Almost animalistic in a way, her eyes were narrowed and for a second he thought he saw something glisten in them. When she spoke, her voice was low and full of acid.

"Go ahead, Ichigo." She growled; her breath hot on his face. "Go ahead–say that shit to me again." Several tense seconds of silence past, but Ichigo refused to say a word. "I don't know what the _hell _is wrong with you, but don't you _ever_ try to feed me that, 'I'm-a-tortured-loner-with-no-friends' bullshit to me again. Understand?"

The tension was drowning them both, but when Ichigo opened his mouth to respond, something stupid tumbled out instead. "Don't you have a job to go to?"

Tatsuki looked surprised that Ichigo would remember that, since she had only told him it once and let her hand fall back to her side. She frowned at him before replying. "Part-time. I don't have to be in today." The rest of her message was unsaid, but rang in his ears anyway. She had all afternoon to find out what was wrong with him.

"Well, I have to wor–"

"Bullshit. You have today off too." Ichigo opened his mouth to give her another excuse about anything, but Tatsuki beat him to it. "And your boss hasn't called you in today either. I'm not stupid, don't act like I am."

"Do I look like I want to talk about my 'feelings'?"

"Does it look like I give a damn about what you want?"

Silence fell between them once more, and Ichigo didn't know what to do. Tatsuki seemed perfectly content to just stand right in front of him until he started to speak. Ichigo really didn't feel like talking to anyone right now, but he didn't really see any other alternative beside fighting. This whole situation was really beginning to piss him off.

His jaw clenched as he spoke. "What the hell do you want from me, Tatsuki? Really, what do you want?"

"I want you to get your head out of your ass and talk to me!"

"Am I interrupting something...?" A cool voice broke into the teenager's heated moment, and their heads turned as one to meet the gaze of one of their teachers, Takamata-sensei. One of his eyebrows rose deftly as he took in their close proximity. "I must ask you to keep all interactions of a personal level off of school grounds. To not do so would be...poor manners, wouldn't it?"

"Yes!" Ichigo grabbed onto his teacher's words faster than a bolt of lightning. "Yes, it would be!" He then used Takamata-sensei's presence as an excuse to move from his place against the back door.

It was with great relief that he made his way from his friend and teacher, but just as Ichigo was making his escape Takamata spoke up again, causing the teen to stop in his tracks. "Kurosaki, it would be terrible manners to leave a young lady's bag upon the floor...would it not?"

The man was obviously waiting for an answer, so Ichigo had no choice but to growl one out. "It. Would. Be." He struggled to get the words out as his body turned almost robotically back towards Tatsuki's schoolbag. He took several halting steps over to it, before wrenching it from the ground.

He then made the painful walk back over to Tatsuki, and couldn't help but glare at the smug smile on the girl's face. He forced his arm to raise and thrust the bag out to her, and she took it from him with slow, exaggerated daintiness. "Thank you, Ichigo." Her voice was mockingly higher pitched then it usually was, and at this moment Ichigo hated the sound of it. But, he still managed to choke out a 'you're welcome'.

"There you go Kurosaki; that was proper." At this point, Ichigo was all too certain that the ever polite and emotionless Takamata-sensei was making fun of him in his own twisted way. This revelation really made Ichigo want to hit the man. "Now, run along."

Side by side (something Tatsuki made sure of) the duo left the older man, and began the trek to the school's front exit. Ichigo would have preferred it to be made in silence, but it seemed that Takamata couldn't help but throw in one last jab.

"Leave your relationship at home children, it's only proper!"

[-]

"You're different."

Ichigo didn't turn to face Tatsuki as they walked down the street together. Since they had left the school together, both had been silent and focused on just walking. Ichigo didn't have a set destination, and knew that Tatsuki was just following him. "I'm not."

She scoffed at him, but it lacked any real heat. Ichigo supposed she didn't want to have to chase him down if he decided to make a run for it. "You are. You're angry too, and looking for a fight." She sounded rather firm in her belief, and Ichigo wasn't sure if she was wrong.

"I'm not."

"You were earlier. I would know." At his confused glance she elaborated. "I've had to drag your stupid butt out of alleys after a brawl for years. I've known _you _for years Ichigo, you might not think you're angry, but you are."

"You might not be screaming your head off, but you're pissed and looking to take it out on someone. With the way you are now, you'd tear the head off of any idiot punk that takes a shot at you. No matter how stupid it is or how many of them there are." Tatsuki turned a long, hard gaze to him before continuing. "I really don't want to have to bail your sorry ass out of jail."

Ichigo ignored her jibe. "You're wrong. If I was so angry, then I would've taken it out on you by now."

Tatsuki's face took on a vaguely pleased look as he said this, but it didn't stop her from answering. "You know me. I'm not just some stupid wanna-be thug looking for attention. Besides that..." Here she paused for a second, before continuing. "...You don't want me gone, not really."

"Get over yourself." Ichigo griped. "You're not that important."

She smirked at him. "You keep telling yourself that." Ichigo just had to toss an abrasive look in her direction as they continued walking. "If you really wanted to get away from me you would've tried to bail by now."

Ichigo scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Please, you'd just chase me down anyway." A blind man would've seen the truth in that statement. That same man would've also been able to see the smug look Tatsuki wore in response to Ichigo's words. "Then I'd have to deal with you whining about it."

His companion seemed to be less then pleased by Ichigo's opinion of how she would react. "Hardly! I don't whine!" In fact, she seemed particular annoyed at him for saying it.

"Hey now..." A calm voice spoke out. "That isn't anyway to treat a lady, is it?" The speaker was slouched on a sidewalk bench, looking as though he didn't have a care in the world. Grasped in his hand was a bar of chocolate that he seemed to be munching on.

His hair was a deep black, and more than a little messy. In fact, the man's hair might have been more wild then Ichigo's own locks. Emerald green eyes glowed eerily though his round glasses, and a lightning bolt shaped scar stood out on his forehead. His attire was a full black suit and tie, with a red collared shirt to go under it. The man's clothing may have been formal, but he wore them very casually.

"What?" Ichigo questioned harshly as his gaze cut to the man, he wasn't particularly fond of some stranger giving his opinion where it wasn't wanted or asked for. "What the hell is it your business how I speak to her?" He didn't even give the man a chance to answer before lunching one more question. "And why the hell can't you mind your own business?"

The green eyed man just shrugged as he answered both questions easily. "It's none of my business, and I'm bored. I've been waiting here all day after all." He scowled and looked to the sky before continuing. "There's this new group in town, and I've been waiting for them since this morning."

"What?" Ichigo repeated, somehow managing to sound less offensive and more annoyed at the same time. "Well, why the hell are you still here then? And why the hell would we care–?"

But Ichigo was obviously ignored by the man as he set his green eyes on Tatsuki. "Excuse me miss, but I can tell from your uniform you're still in school. Does that mean it has ended for the day?" At her stiff nod he gave her a small smile.

He then grabbed a black fedora that Ichigo hadn't noticed before, and plopped it onto his head in a manner that reminded Ichigo strongly of Urahara. Then man then stood slowly and stretched in a manner similar to a cat. "Well, alright then. Guess it's about time for me to go, thanks for the help." The man re-wrapped his chocolate and stuffed it into an inner pocket of his suit jacket, before he began to amble of.

"Huh? I thought you said that you were waiting for someone?" Ichigo voiced before the man had managed to get more than a few steps away. "Why leave now, if you didn't before?" As far as the teen was concerned, if this guy was stupid enough to sit and wait on a bench for this long, he deserved to stay there all day.

"Done with waiting for them. Now I'm waiting for _it_."

"It?" This time it was Tatsuki who spoke up, her voice was tainted with distrust. "It what?"

"You know, _it_. The calm before the storm–well, I guess it would be the coming storm in this case." The man looked back at them, and both Ichigo and Tatsuki noticed the odd look that had settled there. "_You have felt it_, haven't you? This whole town–it's practically buzzing in anticipation."

And, as though a conversation just hadn't be going on, the man turned away from them and wandered his way down the street. Ichigo and Tatsuki stood in front of the bench for several moments afterward, lost for words.

"...That was random..." Ichigo state redundantly as he shook off weird atmosphere the man had left behind. "Dude was a weirdo, probably some basehead or something." The teen gathered himself before beginning to set off once more. It took him a second to notice that his companion wasn't following. "Tatsuki, c'mon. Get the lead out."

But it seemed that his companion mind had other things on her mind when she spoke. "Ichigo, that guy–he had that spiritual energy stuff. I'm sure of it." Thoughtful brown eyes locked onto shocked ones as she finally met his gaze. "It definitely wasn't just a little bit either."

"Are you serious?" The teen breathed, emotions flashed across his face as he stared off in the direction the stranger had went. "Why didn't you say anything earlier? He might've been–I–he could've–" Ichigo seemed to struggled to put what he wanted to say into words, but Tatsuki could read what he meant on his face.

"Could've done what, exactly?" Tatsuki's voice was sharp as steel as she began to move forward and take her place at his side. "Fight him? Intimidate him? Don't even think of trying it Ichigo, what good would it do anyway?"

"I don't know, but come on! He–"

"Is _not_ some Hollow or a Soul Reaper! If he was..." She shot Ichigo a pointed look and his face turned irate. "_You _wouldn't have seen him. Ichigo..."Tatsuki's voice softened as she put a hand on his shoulder. "He was probably just some guy, like you. Remember? You could see spirits and everything before you all that craziness went down with the Soul Reapers. Maybe he doesn't have anything to do with anything."

Disbelief was written in Ichigo's posture as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "You can't believe that! Did you not just listen to what that guy was just saying!" The teen shook his head at his friend, "He just gave us some kind of message!"

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "Don't be so melodramatic. Weren't you just going on about the guy being a crackhead?" She removed her hand from his shoulder and gabbed his arm before dragging him forward with her. "Drug addict to mysterious messenger is a big jump, Ichigo."

He scowled at her, but didn't fight as she led him away. "You can't honestly think that this dude didn't mean anything? I mean, he talks to _us _out of all people? You think that wasn't planned? Gimme a break Tatsuki." The teen huffed and scowled into the distance, wishing he had gotten the man's name. "He even admitted that he had been sitting there all day."

The girl just crossed his arms indignantly. "He said he was waiting for some guys, didn't you hear him?"

A shrewd look was directed at her, and Ichigo's tone suddenly became unreadable. "Why are you so against this?" He question, but it seemed that Tatsuki was tired of this conversation or didn't want to answer, because she refused to say anymore on the subject.

That just left Ichigo to wonder about just what the man had wanted, and where he may have come from. Could he have been someone in a Gigai? Hell, the guy could have been a Quincy for all Ichigo knew!

And just what group was he waiting around for? Shinji's? The only spiritual group that had anything to in Karakura was the Visored. Well, besides Ichigo's team anyway...

Was that why Chad had been gone so long in class? Was he, Ishida, and Inoue the 'group' that the stranger had spoke of? Maybe he had been waiting for school to end and that was why he asked Tatsuki about it? He could have decided to wait in any of their houses until they came home...

[-]

"Run that by me once more Chad?"

Uryu and Chad were sitting in an empty classroom at Karakura High; the two teens were alone for the moment.

Uryu had been initially surprised when Chad had turned up right after class to speak to him, even though he didn't let it show. He had thought that whatever Chad wanted to talk about would be connect to the reason he had been gone so long from class even though the Hollow he had dealt with hadn't been very powerful.

He had been right, of course. But he would have never guessed why he had been right.

The dark skinned teen's voice rumbled as he spoke. "When I finished the Hollow I went after, I was called out by this man, he knew who I was. The fight with the Hollow happened on a roof, and this guy jumped from the pavement to the top."

"He knew who I was." Chad repeated, he seemed worried that his Hollow fighting was known to whoever that man was. Uryu couldn't really blame him. "He knew who I was and who Ichigo was too. He also knew that Ichigo used to be a Soul Reaper, and I wouldn't be surprised if he knew about Aizen and how Ichigo lost his powers."

"What does this man want?"

Chad didn't answer right away, and when he did speak up his voice was soft. "He said that he could restore Ichigo's powers." After Uryu's sharp intake of breath, Chad continued with his story. "He said that if Ichigo was willing to help out him and his friends, they'd help him restore his powers."

"This doesn't sound good at all." A calculating look entered the Quincy's eye as he took in the situation. "How could he possibly return Kurosaki's Soul Reaper abilities? That isn't an easy feat by any stretch."

Chad just shrugged, he didn't have any idea how the man could accomplish such a thing. "I don't know, but it looked like he meant business. What I don't understand is why he'd tell me at all, shouldn't he have just gone straight to Ichigo?"

Uryu didn't like where this situation was heading at all, it made him feel very on edge. It also smelled a lot like a trap, but that went without saying. "That makes his actions even more suspect...Are you sure he really wanted Kurosaki's help? He may have just been playing with you."

"Maybe, but I don't think so. It looked like he really wanted whatever it was they need Ichigo for." That was another thing that was nagging on Chad's mind, what would someone spiritually aware need Ichigo for? He voiced the question to his friend, and Uryu wondered the same.

`"I don't understand either," The last Quincy admitted. "What would some Soul Reaper–"

"He wasn't a Soul Reaper." Chad interrupted, surprising Uryu once more. "Whoever this guy is, he's alive."

Uryu looked even more wary now. "Alive? He was spiritually aware _and_ alive? Jesus..." The teen pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to keep focused. "...You don't think he was a Quincy, do you?"

"Who's to say? He might be. Or he might be like me and Orihime, who knows?"

That was the problem, wasn't it? Neither of them knew who this guy was, or what his origins might be. "We can worry about that later. We need to focus on what he wants, and not how he came to be." Uruy cleared his throat as he spoke again. "I can only assume that since he didn't go to Kurosaki himself, he wants you to act as a messenger."

"Yes. He gave me this to use." Chad reached into his jacket and pulled out a black card with the word 'Xcution' inscribed on it. "Ichigo is supposed to call him, and then meet him and his friends at wherever they are."

Uryu took the card and examined it, but soon realized it was just a plain phone card and returned it to Chad. "No." He said simply, even though his words were made of steel. "They expect us to just let Kurosaki surround himself with what may be an entire gang filled with spiritually aware humans? No, that isn't happening."

Chad agreed. "I thought so too. That's why I was thinking of trying to meet with them all myself, to see how they really are. Alone." The teen carried on despite his friend's, irate disbelief. "I don't think they'd let more then one of us in at the same time, that man seemed to just want Ichigo, no one else."

"Unacceptable" Uryu hissed out. "If you want, then get in contact with them. See if they are willing to meet, but _you will not go in alone!_ Either both of us will be a part of this or neither of us will. That is nonnegotiable."

Chad frowned at him, but the bigger boy decided to let the issue drop for now. He would try it Uryu's way, and if that doesn't plan out he'd try his best to meet with Xcution alone. "Fine. Do we tell Orihime?"

"I don't think we should. She isn't all that great keeping secrets, and if Kurosaki goes find out about this she'd be the first he'd press for answers. And since Kurosaki is himself, she'd cave faster then the speed of light." Chad was sure that he didn't imagine the bitterness in his friend's voice, but he did his level best to ignore it.

"She'd be our best asset if a fight does breakout." Chad made it a point to bring up Orihime's healing abilities, they had a tendency to be overlooked. Which was a shame, they had always been so helpful.

"Only if we get that far, we might not even make it through the front door. Imagine if we told Inoue, and then she did spill the beans to Kurosaki. What do you think would happen if we aren't able to meet with this group before him? Either we'd get his hopes up and horribly let him down, or he'd go without us and probably get killed."

He offered Chad a flat look. "I'm not sure what would be worse: dealing with Inoue after Kurosaki dies, dealing with his orangutan of a father, or cleaning whatever was left of that idiot off the ground."

[-]

Harry's footsteps tapped loudly against the metallic roof of the building he was on. After he had left Ichigo and the girl, he had hightailed it to someplace out of the way. The best place he could think of in this town was on one of the buildings. A man was already waiting up there for him.

"Why are you here?"

The blonde man's voice was hard, and cold as ice. Just hearing him speak was putting Harry on edge, and the sheathed sword that the man rested across his shoulder wasn't helping him either. The man's dirt brown eyes were glaring into Harry with more than a little hostility.

This man was powerful, Harry could see that the instant he laid his eyes upon him. Hell, Harry could feel the man's spiritual pressure before he even meet the man. This guy was the reason Harry had to cut his initial meeting with Ichigo short.

It was mildly concerning how quickly the man had came running when Harry first made his presence known. Was Ichigo being monitored somehow? Now _that_ was the concerning thought. Not that he'd let that show.

"Why, I'm just visiting." Harry, putting on the sweetest fakest smile he could conjure, but the blond man wasn't buying it. "Why, is that a problem?"

The man nodded grimly, and the action caused his neat, chin length hair to move. "Yeah, it is a problem. A big problem actually." He then began to smile, and Harry couldn't help but notice that it looked horribly stretched and forced. Almost as if his mouth was too big for his face. "Ya'see, me and my friends don't like it when people with spiritual pressure come to Karakura. And we like it even less when they stay for almost a week."

Harry had immediately tensed at the man's mention of his 'friends' and almost didn't catch the last part of the man's speech. The teen was immediately on the lookout for any Soul Reapers or Xcutioners. "Really now?" Harry replied, as he extended his senses as much as he could. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Sorry guy, but you jumped right from uncomfortable to aggravation the minute you decided to make a move on Ichigo. Not cool kid."

Harry's demeanor shifted in a second. His plastic smile fell and his transparent attempts and casualness ended. "Oh really? Keeping the hero on a short leash?" His tone conveyed just how he felt about that. "Not cool, _man_,"

"Listen kid, you're not helping your case–"

"And you're just adding to yours." Harry finished, cutting of what the man was going to say. "And by the way, my name's Harry. Not kid."

Harry could see the man inhumanly large smile shrink a little and a small dash of annoyance filled the man's stance. But none of that was reflected in the man's tone. "Well _Harry_, my name is Shinji." The man's grip on his sword tightened, and Harry knew that Shinji was getting ready to fight. "And now since our introductions are outta the way, can you tell me just what the hell you're doing here."

Harry's right hand loosened and his index finger began to twitch lightly. He had a wand holster strapped to the underside of his wrist, meaning his weapon could be in his grasp within a second if things began to turn ugly. "Umm...I'm looking for Ginjo?"

While it was a gamble, tossing out the man's name would at least let Harry know if Shinji was a member of Xcution. Harry didn't remember seeing him before, but there was always the chance that Harry had missed him or that he was new.

Shinji's eyes narrowed and managed to distort his face even more then before, and he began to unsheathe his sword in a deliberately threatening motion. Obviously the man wasn't playing games. "Who the hell is Ginjo?"

So now either Shinji was telling the truth, or one hell of an actor. Harry didn't understand what Shinji would gain by claiming not to know Ginjo, hell, knowing Ginjo would be better for the man in this instance. At least then Harry would be half-expecting Xcutioners to jump out of the woodwork.

So the good news was that this man isn't an Xcution member, but the bad news is that he's most likely a Soul Reaper. And from what Harry's heard, Soul Reapers are tough and strong. Not a good combination to say the least.

The air was becoming heavier and heavier by the second, Shinji had drawn his sword fully and was starting to release more of his spiritual pressure. Harry counteracted it by matching the amount as he drew the Elder Wand.

It happened in a second. Shinji took one powerful step forward and seemed to disappear right in front of Harry with a distinct 'fwoosh' effect. But before he was even able to get within striking distance Harry was gone.

With a _crack _of apparition Harry was several yards above where he had stood previously. His feet were planted firmly in the sky as he constructed a platform made out of ambient spiritual particles. With a vicious wave of the Elder Wand, Harry conjured a a wave of crimson flames and directed them at his opponent.

Shinji sidestepped the attack and lunged into the air towards Harry. The man's blade was held in a perfect jabbing motion and he was closing in on Harry like a bullet. But Harry grunted and swung his wand like a person would a whip. A thick iron chain sprouted from it and smashed painfully into Shinji's face, stunning the man and allowing Harry to apparate away.

Reappearing on the other side of the roof, Harry and Shinji locked gazes. Both stood for several moments without saying a word, though Harry was tempted to point out that the side of Shinji's face looks like it might already bruise.

Shinji broke the silence. "Nice tricks you got. I like that cracking thing you do, it's really fast. Faster than my shunpo, I think." The man's creepy grin made a reappearance as he continued. "Bet you're gonna do that whenever I get close, huh?"

Harry only had the vaguest idea of what shunpo might actually be, so he just disregarded the man's first comment. "Yeah, probably." He answered honestly. "I don't want to be anywhere near that sword and a big fight wouldn't be very good right know. Actually..."

Both combatants looked at the building below them as the fire Harry conjured began to spread. The fire wouldn't harm the building, since it only burn flesh, but it was easy to see how a fight in the middle of the city could turn really ugly really fast.

"...Yeah. A fight really wouldn't be good here." A cold sense of foreboding hit Harry as Shinji spoke. "Good thing you're finished."

"Sing, Benihime!" A powerful voice roared out as a bright red light shone from an area behind Harry. The teen whirled around one to gasp in horror as a crescent shaped blast of energy flew at him. He could do nothing as the attack slammed into him. It cut through one side of his body and then out the other before hitting the roof below and causing a small explosion.

As the smoke cleared, both Shinji and the new attacker looked on as Harry hung in the air like nothing happened. He gave one sarcastic smile before simply fading into thin air. The boy had been an illusion. Shinji and his companion began to survey the area before until Harry called out to them.

"Well, that wasn't cool."

And suddenly Harry was back. He didn't reappear slowly, he didn't fade in, and there wasn't a spike of spiritual energy. First he was invisible and then he wasn't. First he was gone and then he was directly in their line of sight.

It was unnerving.

But Harry didn't seem to notice as he continued to speak. "You know, back in my neighborhood, a cheap shot to the back is seen as pretty rude." He raised his hand and pointed his wand at them. "Now we can do this nice and easy, or we can turn this very ugly. Which one will it be?"

The new comer frowned and adjusted the green and white stripped bucket hat that rested on his head. He wore very casual clothes and sandals under what seemed to be and overly large black coat. In his right hand rested and very ornate sword with a straight blade, red handle, and various tassels.

Fire trucks began to wail in the distance as the trio of fighters took in one another, and not a word was said in response to Harry's question. After several more long moments the man in the hat spoke up. "Why are you here? And just who the hell are you?"

Shinji supplied answers easily enough before Harry could respond. "His name is Harry, and he's looking for some guy named Ginjo."

The look that the hat wearing man sent Harry could have frozen an entire ocean, and the teen could help but be a little intimidated by its fearsomeness. "How do you know that name? Do you work for him?" His voice was even colder than his glare.

"How do _you_ know that name?" Harry shot back. The insinuation that he may be working for Ginjo annoyed him. "Don't tell me that you didn't know he was here. If you could find me then you could definitely find them!" Honestly, Ginjo and his gang had been running around Karakura longer than him and Harry hadn't seen anyone attack them! This whole situation was completely unfair...

Idly, Harry noticed that the firetrucks were getting closer, and the fire that Harry had conjured was spreading by the second. He really needed to do something about that, but he wasn't willing to turn his back on his two opponents.

"I dunno kid." Shinji cut in, "You have quite a bit of spiritual energy and I can tell from here that your crap at controlling it. That makes you pretty easy to find."

[-]

Ichigo was wandering down the main river that divided Karakura in almost two equal parts. It was something of a symbolic gesture, since this was the same river that he had wandered as a child after his mother had been killed. This river held many memories for him, some of them were good and some weren't so good.

His family visited the river bank often for festivals, or just for picnics and familial outings. Those memories were what drove him to practically camp out here those first few weeks after his mother's passing. It was also the same place that Tatsuki would usually find him and drag him almost unwilling back home before it got too dark.

Almost instinctively Ichigo looked behind in just to make sure that Tatsuki wasn't stomping over to him this moment, but he told himself that she was pobably at home now.

It had been several hours since school had ended and Tatsuki had kept her word. She had followed and nagged at Ichigo for some time before she had annoyed him to the point that he would talk to her.

She had asked him what his problem was, and he mentioned to her about how useless he felt. She questioned him about his anger, and he told her of how angry being so useless made him. He had also let slip that he might miss seeing spirits also.

Throughout Ichigo's confessions Tatsuki had been silent except when she asked the occasional question. After he had finished he had waited for her to respond. To tell him that he was stupid, that he was being stupid, and that he was acting stupid.

But instead of her saying that or trying to cheer him up, all Tatsuki did was get a really weird look on her face, tell him to not get into any stupid fights, and go home. After that, all Ichigo did was just wander around until it got dark. What the hell was up with that?

Woman, Ichigo decided, were weirdly complicated and annoying. First Tatsuki basically hunted him down and stalked him. Then when he finally did say something, she got all quiet before bailing on him. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?

Soon Ichigo spotted an unoccupied wooden bench and decide to help himself to it. The sun was beginning to set and night was setting on, but he didn't feel like going home just yet.

"This town is a pretty nice place, huh?"

Ichigo almost jumped out of his skin when he heard that voice right next to him, and he _did_ jump from his seat before turning around, fists raised and ready for a fight.

Sitting there, on the opposite end of the bench that Ichigo had been sitting on, was the man from before.

"You alright?" The man asked without looking at Ichigo. He was leaning back fully on the bench and gazing up at the sky. "Looks like you've seen a ghost."

_Oh, hell no!_ Ichigo thought furiously as he backed up a few steps and glared darkly at the man. Whatever small amount of doubt Ichigo had about this guy being someone important was killed, it looked like Tatsuki had been wrong.

"Who the hell are you, and why are you here!" Ichigo demanded.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" The man muttered to himself, before shaking his head and standing. Ichigo stiffened as he walked forward, and raised his right hand for a handshake. "Hi, I'm Harry Potter."

Ichigo just looked at the hand incredulously before he harshly smacked it away. "Don't play with me!" He scowled at Harry, causing the man to step back. "Why the hell are you following me around!"

"I want to help you." Harry raised his hand to put a stop to any comments Ichigo began to make. "I know that sounds hard to believe, but it's the truth. I want to help you regain your powers."

Ichigo scowled once more. "I told you not to play with me! My powers are gone, and their never coming back!"

"You can't honestly tell me that you really believe that?" Harry questioned before sighing. "You're lying to yourself, you and I both know that you don't think you're power is well and truly gone. 'Energy cannot be destroyed, just changed from one form to another' haven't you heard of that?"

Ichigo scoffed, but didn't lower his guard. "'Changed'? Changed to what? _Pudding? _You're not making any sense. My spiritual energy isn't something else, _it just isn't there anymore._" A brief look of sadness appearance across his feature, but it was quickly replaced with a scowl. "The point is, it's gone."

"It isn't gone, and you missed my point. I wasn't trying to say that it was changed, just that it couldn't have been destroyed. Not really." Harry frowned before backing up and sitting back down. "Why are you fighting me on this? I thought you'd be happy to have your powers back."

"_What?_ First of all, you don't know a damn thing about me. And second: why am I fighting you? Uh, I don't know? Maybe it's because I have no clue about who the hell you are." At this point Ichigo's tone had gained a harsh, sarcastic tone to it. "It'd be like taking candy from a stranger, _to the extreme!_"

"Ichigo, what could I possible gain by lying to you? It's not like I'm trying to lure you away, we both know that if I wanted to kidnap you I'd just take you be force." Harry shot him a hard look. "With the way you are now, you wouldn't put up much of a fight."

Ichigo gritted his teeth, but didn't comment. It was true. If this guy did have some sort of spiritual powers, then Ichigo wouldn't be able to match him in a fight. His best choice would be to run away. But he was far from home, and didn't think he'd be able to work his phone and flee at the same time.

And besides, why would some guy want to help him out? There was no way that this guy would give Ichigo his powers back for free, he would definitely want something in return. But what could Ichigo offer him?

His strength? But there was no way to tell if Ichigo's powers would be as strong as before with them being gone or dormant or whatever for so long. Information? On what? The soul Society? Or Aizen? Or maybe about the Hōgyoku and the final battle?

It didn't matter anyway, Ichigo didn't plan on selling anyone out or sharing secrets that weren't his, and he let Harry know this. "And why would you help me regain my powers? What's in it for you?"

Harry smiled. "You mean besides having one hell of a Plan B if the world is ever in danger again? I need some help with a lot of things and from what I hear you're a great fighter."

"I'm not anyone's tool."

"I never said that you were. And plus, when you do get your powers back, I doubt that I'd be able to force you to do anything that you wouldn't want to." Harry sighed before continuing. "To be honest, there is going to be a lot of fighting soon, and I'd rather you being alive and helpful then dead and not."

Ichigo frowned at the mention of him being dead. "Fighting? Why is there going to be fighting?"

Harry demeanor shifted to a decidedly more serious one as he met Ichigo's eyes. "Did you know that there is a whole gang of spiritually empowered humans running around your town?" At Ichigo's shocked look he continued. "Yup, and every single one of them is damn powerful from what I've seen. Damn tricky too."

"You're lying." Ichigo accused him, but Harry could see that he didn't truly believe that. "Why would they be here and how did they all get powers?"

Harry just shrugged. "Number two: I don't know. But as for question one...they want you." The look in Harry's eyes turned grim. "They want to use you and your powers."

Ichigo cast him a shrewd look. "And you don't?" The teen's tone was accusing, but Harry didn't mind.

"Oh, of course I do." Harry answered honestly. "But at least I'm willing to admit it. And at least I'm not hiding things from you and pretending that everything's alright when it isn't." Here the teen paused before going in for the kill. "And I'm not monitoring you and tracking your every move."

Ichigo's voice became tight and harsh while his eyes narrowed dangerously. "What did you just say?"

"I'm saying that you're being watched. It's one of the reasons that I cut our first meeting so short. The minute I stayed around you for too long, some idiot named Shinji with a big spiritual presence starting gunning right to us. I left so there wouldn't be some giant fight."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would Shinji of all people care if you came near me?"

"I think it was a combination of things. I'm pretty sure I was making him nervous by hanging around town, I'm not good at hiding my spiritual pressure and I guess he felt me the minute I came." Harry frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'm also pretty sure that Hat-guy called him or something, since there was no way for him to tell I was near you since you don't have available spiritual pressure anymore."

Ichigo was starting to develop a sinking feeling somewhere in the pit of his stomach. "Hat-guy' sounded suspiciously like Urahara, and it would be just like Urahara to place some stupid tracking chip on him. It would also be just like Urahara to keep Ichigo in the dark if something was going to go down, the man had a bad habit of keeping things on a need-to-know basis.

Ichigo wondered if any of his friends knew about this so called gang and didn't tell him because Urahara felt that he would just be a liability since he couldn't defend himself. It was even worse because Ichigo understood why they would be hiding something like that from him. Or, he understood until he heard that these guys might target him directly. If these guys were looking for him then he wanted to know so he could avoid them. And tell his family. That was key.

"So you think that Urahara–that's the guy's name–sent Shinji after you because he could tell that you came near me?" That seemed kind of off...but then again Urahara was kind of off. Ichigo could never tell what the man was planning. "What for? And why would Urahara track me?"

Harry shrugged. "Guess he thought that I was a threat. And maybe he's just trying to make sure that you aren't killed or something." There was a lull in the conversation after that, with neither of them knowing what to say.

"Well, in case you're wondering, the reason no one is hear now is because I threw up a couple of wards." At a questioning look Harry continued. "Barriers. I could tell that you were walking along the river, so I moved ahead and waited for you. I even made this bench so both of us could sit down."

"You made a bench? Bullshit." Just who the heck did this guy think he was talking to?

But Harry just smirked before standing up and drawing a stick from somewhere. He the turned to face the bench and waved the stick. The bench disappeared. He then looked expectantly to Ichigo, as if he was waiting for him to start being impressed.

But Ichigo just raised an eyebrow. While what Harry just did was interesting, it wasn't all that to be proud of. Nothing really surprised Ichigo these days, as a person begins to accept impossibilities after they stop the charge of a giant, soul destroying bird made of fire with a single sword.

"I've seen cooler. Make another one."

Harry rolled his eyes and after a single wave, he made a sign appear where the bench used to be. On that sign was the word 'Asshole'. Ichigo gave Harry the finger in response.

"Damn you Japanese are rude."

"American asshole."

"I'm _Britsh_, Tojo."

"Like _that's_ something to be proud of. You guys lost a war when you outnumbered the Americans three to one."

Harry almost responded with something along the lines of 'Didn't the American's bomb you and send you hiding in your rice fields' but held his tongue. In an attempt to divert any kind of insult-war that might be started if they kept going like this, Harry got the conversation back on track. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a set of keys that he tossed to Ichigo.

"Take these. I'm staying at this motel called The King's Queen. It's pretty shabby, but I've slept in worse places and it gets the job done. I'm in room sixteen."

Ichigo caught the keys, and for a second Harry thought that he might toss them away. But all Ichigo did was shrug and shove them into his pants pocket. He sent Harry a level look. "You seem pretty sure that I'll come." He seemed annoyed at the fact that anyone expected him to do something that he may not want to.

"Oh, I know you'll come. You'll come because you're sick and tired of being powerless and ignored. And I know that you'll come because you and I are very similar."

"You think that we're similar?" Ichigo asked.

"Yup. After all" Harry sent Ichigo a dark smile, and Ichigo began to notice just how old his eyes seemed. "...You don't think that you're the only person that saved the world, do you?"

And with that, Harry Potter disappeared with a loud _CRACK!_

**Name: **Harry Potter

**Age:** 19

**Eye Color:** Green

**Hair Color: **Black

**Occupation: **Ex-wizard, ex-student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, jobless

**Notable Achievements: **Surviving the Killing Curse, conjuring a corporal patronus at thirteen, reclaiming the lost sword of Godric Gyrffindor, slaying a basilisk, Winning the Triwizard Tournament, breaking into the Ministry of magic, saving the world, and becoming the Master of Death

**Author's Note:**

Jeez this chapter turned out outrageously longer then it should have. I wanted this to be a lot shorter then it actually was when I first thought it up. The idea of this came from my desire to see a Bleach/Harry Potter that didn't involve Harry going to the Soul Society or Ichigo and everyone going to Hogwarts.

But Hogwarts does exist in this story. Harry hasn't came from an alternate dimension or anything. Hogwarts is here and the Wizarding World is too. Why Harry wants to work with Ichigo will be answered eventually. Just like I'm going to explain just how Harry meet and got in contact with Xcution.

Is Harry OOC? Hell Yes. He's been beefed up to survive fights against characters in Bleach. Is he almighty? Hell no. He probably wouldn't win a fight against Ichigo pre the final battle with Aizen. Does Harry have magic? No. Does he have Spiritual Power? Yes. Will that be explained? Yes. Will how he is able to do spells with the Elder wand be explained? Yes.

Is Voldemort dead? Yes. How AU is this from Harry Potter? Not much. The only thing that really changed was the ending of the final fight with Voldemort and what happens after that.

Is this yaoi? No. Not in this story, just a little bro-ness. I can completely see Ichigo with Tatsuki though (as if I didn't make that horribly obvious). Will Ichigo have magic? No. Ichigo is awesome enough. Will Harry have a Zanpakuto? No. But he does have some Deathly Hallow-specific abilities that will let him hang with the characters in Bleach.

Is this AN long as hell? Yes. Yes it is.

Laters.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form


	2. Chapter 2

Within the Eternity Circle

Chapter 2: The Deceiving Guardian

_Different groups throughout time have had different ways of recruiting people. The Mafia, for example helps people when they get into tough situations with the law if they join up, which has a huge appeal for a lot of young people._

_The Freemasons never sought anyone out, they allowed their members to come to them. they however weren't above approaching people and telling them how much of a good Mason they could be, planting the seeds of curiosity, which would drive the person towards the fraternity._

_Some offer a place of acceptance. A place that people shunned by society could find friendship and people like them. After getting a taste of this companionship, the newcomer would grasp onto it as tightly as they can. After all, everyone wishes for a place where they can belong._

_In my life I've been faced with all of these different methods of recruitment, and as you can probably guess, the last is the hardest to ignore, so hard that I was barely able to turn it down the first time. Now, all I have to do is find out which one will work best with Kurosaki Ichigo. _

-Harry Potter

The walk back home was a long one for Ichigo. His mind was buzzing with everything Harry Potter had informed him of. Some of it had seemed so unlikely, like the fact that spiritually empowered humans were running around his town and no one seemed to be doing anything. Was that true? And if it was, why was everyone letting them have their way?

Did his father know about it? If Harry was to be believed, then Urahara knew about them. And if Urahara knew then there was a good chance that Ichigo's father knew too. He was pretty sure that they were friends, or at least as close as someone could get to being Urahara's friend.

Did Uryu's father know? Did Uryu know? What about everyone else? Were they just letting him go about his life while there was a knife hanging over his head? Are they ever planning on telling him? It wasn't like he would just run into a fight knowing that he would lose without reason. All the times he had done that before was because there hadn't been any other options!

A small part of Ichigo began to wonder if everyone was enjoying holding this secret over him and laughing secretly behind his back. Wouldn't that be a laugh? Was this how Orihime felt when Urahara told her that she wasn't strong enough? After she had went home did she think he and everyone had joked about her? Ichigo hoped not, because feeling like this sucked.

But maybe Ichigo was getting ahead of himself. There was no actual proof that anything Harry had said was true. Sure, he could say that they were dangerous people running around Karakura, but could he really prove that? Harry could claim whatever he wanted and Ichigo would have to accept it because he has no other options.

After all, what would Urahara gain from letting so many people run around with no one to put a stop to them? It wasn't like Urahara wouldn't be able to take them. For all the stupid acts the man might put on, he wasn't a pushover by a long shot. Ichigo doubted the man would be afraid of facing anyone in direct combat.

But on the other hand, what would Urahara gain from taking these people down? It didn't matter how much damage this group did if Urahara didn't see confronting them as something worth doing. That man was a scientist through and through, and a selfish one at that. If he didn't think these newcomers were interesting ,then he might have just decided to leave them be.

But maybe Ichigo was being too critical? For all Urahara faults and manipulations (and there were plenty of both)he_ had_ helped Ichigo many times. Ichigo also couldn't help but feel that he and Urahara had reached a kind of understanding with each other after Aizen's defeat, but that might just be wishful thinking. After all, after said 'understanding' Urahara decided to drop of the face of the Earth without so much of a 'screw you'.

But while Ichigo could picture Urahara keeping him in the dark, he couldn't honestly see his old friends going behind his back like that. Especially Orihime, she wasn't very good at keeping secrets. Plus, it would be even harder for her to do so since she knew how much it hurt to be excluded and deemed useless.

Ichigo supposed that he could see Uryu and Chad doing something like this. Chad was a stretch, but if he had been truly convinced that doing this would keep Ichigo safe, then Chad would do it. Ichigo could also see Uryu knowing about everything, and keeping it all to himself because he wouldn't want to drag everyone into a fight that might be able to be avoided.

It was even possible that Ichigo's father had lied to him. The man seemed to have no problem hiding the fact that he used to be able to see spirits. That was something that still bothered Ichigo to this very day, the fact that his father never explained his powers to him. Ichigo had spent the majority of his childhood feeling like a complete freak because of his ability to see the dead, couldn't his father see how just explaining things to him would have helped?

Ichigo couldn't help but wonder what Harry's role in all of this was. He claimed that there was a gang of spiritually powerful humans, but he seemed human enough to Ichigo. There was a chance that he could just be leading Ichigo to them. That would also explain why Shinji and Urahara went after him. If they even attacked him at all, there wasn't even proof that a fight had gone down.

He would have to take a look at tonight's news to see if there were any explosions or collateral damage that affected any parts of the town. Fights between spiritually powerful combatants usually get very loud and widespread. If there was a fight, then that meant there was a good chance that something big was destroyed.

And speaking of Harry, just what the hell was up with that guy? How did he know everything he claimed to? Even if he did have some kind of power, it wasn't like he could just skip into the Soul Society and ask what went down with Aizen. Did he have his powers from birth, or did he develop them like Chad and Orihime?

And just what were his powers anyway? To make things disappear and reappear at will? To teleport things away and call them back? Creation from nothing? Either one of those sounded very valuable...What was up with that stick too? He looked like some funky wizard or something...

Even still, just because the guy had access to some power doesn't explain how he learned everything. Ichigo was born with the ability to see spirits, and he had gone almost his entire life without seeing a hollow before he meet Rukia. Of course that had proven to be a manipulation by Aizen, but the situation still held water.

To find out anything about the Soul Society and Soul Reapers in general Harry would've had to talk to one. And the result of that would be most likely be someone wiping his memory and binding whatever powers he had.

But after a while, Ichigo did his best to push such thoughts to the back of his mind. It was dark out now and he was pretty tired. He was sure that the world and its problems could wait until tomorrow morning. And if it couldn't? Ichigo was too annoyed to care all that much.

Soon enough Ichigo found his way to his neighborhood and ambled down the street. His was intent on getting home, getting some food, and going to sleep as soon as possible. Homework be damned, he had enough on his mind.

After reaching the front door to his house and opening it, Ichigo stepped inside and glanced around. Karin looked half passed out on the living room couch. The television was on, but Ichigo doubted that she was watching it. It was more likely that she was just simply staring at it, too lazy to change the channel or look for the remote.

A glance into the kitchen revealed Yuzu, it looked like she was still cleaning up. Had he missed dinner? Ichigo glanced at a hanging clock on the wall, it read 06:45. It seemed that Yuzu had cooked early tonight, which explained why Karen looked dead on the couch. Karin had probably ate too much (as usual) and needed to sleep it off.

Quickly deciding that not eating dinner for one night wouldn't kill him, Ichigo made his way to the staircase and began climbing. Once he had reached the top step, he turned and headed down the hallway that led to his room. But as he passed his father's room, the man's voice carried to his ears.

"_Yeah...alright. The new shipment is in?_" There was a pause in his father's voice as the man waited for a answer. _"Great. She'll probably be over tomorrow or something..."_

Ichigo frowned, and leaned closer to the wall, making sure that his father didn't see him through the open door to his room. He felt somewhat guilty for listening to an obviously privet conversation, but that wouldn't stop him.

His father spoke again. "_Yeah. Yeah, I felt that too, who was it?_" He paused as he waited for the answer, and Ichigo could hear the rolling of his father's office chair. His father had a habit of rolling himself back and forth whenever he sat on one. "_What the hell do you mean you don't know?_"

_He's talking to Urahara._ Ichigo realized grimly. _About what happened with that Harry guy._ Maybe Harry was telling the truth after all? Well, at least about that fight anyway, there was no way he could verify the rest of the man's claim. Ichigo wasn't the type of person that could just take things on blind faith. He never had been.

"_Why was Shinji there? You called him? Why?_" Ichigo's father made a sound of understanding and Ichigo heard him chuckle a bit. "_Getting slow in your old age, Urahara? Hey...don't take it so personally! I get it, Shinj was closer than you._"

Ichigo rolled his eyes as several more minutes were filled with light banter from the two, casual insults were being thrown back and forth. It took them a while to settle down on the topic again, and Ichigo began to listen even harder when they did.

"_Was that guy one of Ginjo's little lackeys?_" Ichigo frowned at the unfamiliar name, who the hell was Ginjo? "_Don't know that either, huh? Why didn't you just beat it out of him?_" Ichigo's eyes widened at what he just heard. Had his father just suggested _torture _of all things, or was he just looking too deeply?

"_Did you just say he teleported away from the fight? Why didn't you just follow him?_" His father paused to listen and responded. _"...That far, huh? And he hit the bricks and ended up far enough that you couldn't sense him? Then when he did come back, he was only around for a while before his spiritual pressure vanished again?"_

"_No, Ichigo isn't back yet._" Said teenager froze as he heard his name being spoken, Were his father and Urahara really talking about him behind his back? "_Why? What? His signal vanished? For how long?_"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed and a curse tingled on his tongue as he took in what was being said. So he really was being watched, by Urahara and his _father _no less! But Ichigo had to swallow his outrage and carry on listening as more and more information was being dropped._ "Is it back yet? I see...sporadic, probably because of whatever jammed it in the first palce."_

"_So...is it ready yet?_" His father seemed to become even more serious, and his voice lowered so much that Ichigo had to strain himself to hear it. "_No...? Why not? You've had almost a–what do you mean that they haven't given it back yet? Call them and tell them to get the lead out, we're running out of time!_"

Suddenly, a deep sigh left his father, and Ichigo could almost see him slump over in his seat and rub his hand along his beard. It was an action that he only made when he was worried about something, usually some kind of bill or something along those lines. _What has gotten him so down?_ Ichigo thought. _Are these new guys really that much of a problem?_

"_Yes, I'm sure about that. You don't have to ask me twice. Kisuke, I don't care about what you think I should do–it's my decision. Not yours._" His father cleared his throat loudly–no doubt cutting off Urahara–before speaking again. "_Well, whatever. Look, I'm about to head downstairs to spend some time with my girls. Call me if something comes up._"

Scrambling, Ichigo pushed off from the wall he was leaning against and made his way down the hall as fast as he could go without running. He managed to reached his room before his father left his own, and slipped inside before closing the door behind him.

Ichigo's room was pretty average in appearance and size. On his walls were several posters on his walls. Some were of the number fifteen written and drawn in various styles, while one was from an old anime he had liked as a child that he had never bothered taking down.

He toed off his sneakers before kicking them to his closet, afterward he shrugged off his bag and tossed it at the foot of his bed. Ichigo then shuffled over to his mattress and threw himself down on it bodily. His face was pushed into his worn comforters, and he breathed in deeply before awkwardly lifting his arms backwards and struggling off his school jacket. That too was tossed to the side without a thought as Ichigo tried to force his racing thoughts to slow down.

What had he just listened in on? His father and Urahara were working on something together, that much was obvious. They had also sent that 'something' to someone so they could either inspect it or contribute to it. These people obviously weren't supposed to keep it, since his father had sounded very adamant about getting it back.

Did they give whatever it was to Shinji? Ichigo couldn't help but wonder what was going on with the Visored and just how he was linked to all of this. Ichigo couldn't imagine any of them going back into hiding, there was no reason for that. Aizen was gone and the Soul Society knew about their continued existence.

But Ichigo couldn't see them joining back up with the Gotei 13 either. All of them seemed pretty bitter about their exile, and he could understand their reluctance to return. He wondered if Yamamoto had lifted their exile, or if he decided to keep up pretenses while just ignoring them. Ichigo didn't really know Yamamoto personally, but the old man hadn't seemed to be one to say 'I'm sorry'.

Were Shinji and everyone else just hanging around Karakura because they didn't have anything better to do? Or was there something bigger going on, and the Visoreds were a part of whatever was going on with his town?

But by far the most worrying (and shocking) revelation had been the fact that he was being tracked without his acceptance or knowledge. Just who the hell did they think they were? Was he being followed too? Were they searching his things also?

Anger sparked deep in his stomach at the thought. How dare they do that without his permission? What gave them the right to keep tabs on what he did or where he went? Ichigo's teeth were clenched together so hard that they were beginning to hurt, but the pain didn't truly register.

They were really hiding something from him, all of them.

Ichigo wasn't sure if he was more hurt or angry at that. Did they truly think he was that incompetent and useless? Or did they believe that he was reckless enough to go running into a fight and get himself killed because he had no powers?

_Get a hold of yourself Kurosaki! You're losing your head!_ Ichigo tried to force himself to calm down and think rationally. There had to be a reasonable explanation for what he had heard. His father had probably just tagged him with a tracker because he was worried about him. If something really important was going on, then his father would have told him.

Ichigo held on to this belief for all of three seconds before he couldn't help but snort. When had his father ever been truthful about anything? The fact was, it took Aizen trying to take over the world for his father to reveal his powers. How trustworthy was that?

Ichigo stewed in his anger-ridden thoughts for some time before he heard a light knock on his bedroom door that drew him from his inner ramblings. The teen froze as he heard his door open squeakily. Ichigo was still lying face down on his bed, if he stayed still then his father would assume that he's sleeping and might just turn around and go back downstairs.

The frantic possibility that his father had found out about him listening at his door flew across his mind as light from the hallway entered his room from the opening door, but he pushed it down. A shadow, lengthened itself across the floor as whoever stood in the doorway stepped inside. Ichigo tensed when it spoke.

"Ichi-nii?" Yuzu's light voice called into his room, and Ichigo felt himself relax at the sound. It was just Yuzu. "Ichi-nii? Are you awake?" Light steps tapped against the wooden floor and Ichigo felt a small hand push lightly on his shoulder. "Are you awake?"

Ichigo rolled over onto his back and sat up. He took a look at his younger sister and did his best to put a smile on his face so she would see how troubled he was. "Yeah, Yuzu, I'm awake." He paused for a second before shooting her a light look. "_Now._"

But it seemed the humor flew over Yuzu's head, the look on her face was a worried one. "Are you okay Ichi-nii?" She asked gently, and Ichigo could help but be touched at her concern. "It isn't like you to come home without telling anyone."

"Uhh, yeah." Ichigo tried his best to send her a grin, but he could feel that it came off as rather halfhearted. "I've had a pretty long night, and school was pretty tough too." He gave her a light shrug of his shoulders. "I guess it just wore me out."

Yuzu's big brown eyes locked onto his, and Ichigo couldn't help but feel like a bastard for lying to his younger sister. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle a little at the offer. Yuzu was his little sister, shouldn't he be the one offering advice and a shoulder to cry on? "Nah, I'm alright. Just tired, that's all." Ichigo wasn't entirely sure if she was convinced, but Yuzu seemed to let the matter drop as she steered the conversation to food.

"Are you hungry? There's still some dinner left out for you, I could heat it up." She gave his form a quick once over. "You look like you haven't eaten all day." There was a hint of scolding to her words, it was obvious that she felt Ichigo should eat something.

But after what he had just learned, Ichigo was far from hungry. "No, I'm not hungry. Actually...I feel a little sick to my stomach." Of course, Ichigo knew exactly why he felt the way he did, but it wasn't like he could tell Yuzu. Even when he was still a Soul Reaper, Ichigo had managed to keep both of his younger sisters mostly ignorant and far away from any fighting that had been going on. He'd be damned if he dragged either of them into whatever was going on now.

"Are you sure, Ichi-nii?"

Ichigo nodded and laid a hand on her small shoulder, hoping that the calming gesture would settle any worries she had for him. "Yeah, I'm sure. I think I just need to sleep this off, I'll feel better in the morning. Okay?" After getting a small nod in return, his hand returned to his lap and he laid back down on the bed. "Now get outta here." He said teasingly. "I'll see you in the morning."

Yuzu nodded and stood up from the seat she had taken on his bed. "Good night then, Ichi-nii." She said to him as she walked out into the bright and closed the door behind her. Ichigo listened to the sound of her footsteps moving farther and farther away until he couldn't here them.

And only then, alone in the darkness of his room, did the false smile fall from Kurosaki Ichigo's face. As he stared unseeingly up at his bedroom ceiling, worry began to drag him down. Just what the hell was he supposed to do now?

[-]

Harry sighed and slouched forward, leaning his elbows on the small circular dining table that was shoved into a small corner of his motel room. It was small, rickety and stained in several places, but he really didn't feel like conjuring another one. The plastic chair that he was sitting on wasn't too comfortable either, but it would do for now.

He eyed the box of pizza that he had ordered a day ago, it was still good, but he didn't feel up to eating. Still, hadn't Hermione always said that it was best to always keep your stomach full? He ended up taking two slices, leaving the last one for breakfast tomorrow.

Balancing one slice on each hand, Harry rose from his seat and moved to the king sized bed that was located in the middle of the room. He was careful not to sit on his fedora or suit jacket, both items had been tossed onto the bed when he had apparated from his meeting with Ichigo. Once he was as comfortable as he could be on such an old lumpy bed, Harry choked down one slice and nibbled on the other.

Harry tried his best to review his meeting with the teenager as best as he could. Ichigo hadn't been particularly welcoming in the beginning, and he hadn't really warmed up to Harry by the end, but he seemed to be considering Harry's claims. Ichigo holding on to the spare keys that Harry had copied from the set he had been given when he rented the room had been a good sign, but that didn't mean Ichigo hadn't just thrown them away at a later time.

Harry couldn't help but feel a little guilty over how he gotten the guy's attention. Playing the 'mysterious stranger' wasn't really how he normally dealt with people. But this situation was so far from normal it wasn't even funny. Harry couldn't afford to truly approach Ichigo, too many people were after him and Ichigo had way too many eyes on him.

The best Harry could do was to have Ichigo come to him. And the best way to do that was to play on the boy's curiosity and feelings of helplessness. Harry knew both feelings intimately–both could sum up the majority of his life rather well– and he knew just how to gain Ichigo's attention. All it would take is one or two meetings, both of them filled with conversations full of half-answers and the boy will come running.

If someone had tried this tactic on him during the summer where his friends and Dumbledore had isolated him and left him at the Dursley's, then Harry would have chased after them in a heartbeat. The truth was a powerful thing, and no one liked being lied to. That being said, as long as Harry could provide the information to Ichigo, then the teen would have no choice to at least listen to what Harry had to say.

The promise of helping him regain his powers would just sweeten the deal. Once again, Harry knew from personal experience that the loss of one's powers will lead to a serious bout of depression. Harry hadn't been without his as long as Ichigo had, but it seemed that the teen was still at a loss as to what to do with himself.

Harry honestly felt bad for using the guy, because in the end that was what he was doing, using Ichigo. He'd be honest about it though. Harry doesn't plan on lying to him, everything thing he'd tell him would be the truth, it was the only way two people who didn't know or trust each other would be able to work together.

Harry finished the last of his second slice of pizza and leaned back so his head found the bed's pillow. _Was this how Dumbledore felt all the time?_ He questioned himself. _Always keeping things to himself and using people?_ But Harry wasn't different from his old Headmaster, he wasn't forcing Ichigo to do anything. He wasn't setting the teen up to die, just offering some answers and a way out of a bad situation.

But no matter how much Harry offered, it all came down to Ichigo coming to him; not the other way around. Harry was on the run from far too many people to go running and attempt to meet with Ichigo again. The only way he would do it is if he could ensure that the teen was willing to help him, Harry may have already made too much noise.

The short battle that Harry had with Urahara (that was the guy's name, right?) and Shinji had attracted the fire department and the bomb squad because of the sword-blasts Urahara had shot off. Harry had even seen the battle site on the news, many people had reported seeing a large fire that burned for several minutes before mysteriously vanishing without leaving any kind of trace.

Harry could only hope that no one important had seen it or heard about it, he really didn't want to be chased halfway around the world again. That usually wasn't as fun as it sounded, and Harry really didn't want to hurt people that didn't have a choice in the matter. He had hurt enough people already.

Sitting up, and then standing from the bed Harry made a move to the bathroom so he could wash the grease from his hands. Along the way he stepped over a black duffel bag that had a distinct ruby encrusted hilt sticking out from it.

As Harry washed his hands, the mark of the Deathly Hallows glowed briefly on the back of his right hand. A circle within a triangle, both being split cleanly in half by a straight line. The symbol flicked for a few moments before fading away completely, leaving untainted skin.

Harry sighed deeply. "It's nights like this, that make me wonder how everyone else is doing."

[-]

Everyone was piled into the main lounge. Riruka looked up from the book she was reading, to take a glance at her fellow Xcutioners. Ginjo was sitting at the bar, seemingly deep into conversation with Giriko while nursing a drink that the older man had tapped for him. She cast an eye over to Yukio, and found the boy sitting in a large leather loveseat. His black overcoat was off and hung over the back of the loveseat, and the boy's black hat rested on his lap. In the boy's hand rested his PSP, he was pressing buttons rapidly.

Riruka frowned to herself. The youngest member of Xcution had always been big on video games (honestly, it was impossible for him not to be) but he seemed to be playing them more and more lately. It couldn't be good, especially for his eyes, and how late it was only made matters worse.

She sighed and put her book down and sat up on the couch that she had been laying on. Riruka brushed her magenta colored hair out of her out of her voice before trying to gain Yukio's attention. "Hey, Yukio? Yukio!"

But it seemed that the boy was too focused on his video game, because he didn't even glance up from it's small screen. Riruka felt mildly annoyed at being ignored, but continued to try and get the younger boy to look up.

"Hey! Yukio! Get your face outta that damn game!" She called to him, louder than ever. She was drawing looks from everyone else, but she didn't care all that much. After trying several more times, Yukio _finally_ paused his game and answered.

"What?" He responded shortly as he mussed up his dirty blond hair with one hand. "What is it?" There was a definite rudeness in his tone that did little to absolve her annoyance.

"Don't 'what' me you little brat!" Riruka called out to him, and she opened her mouth (no doubt with every intention of dressing him down thoroughly) when she abruptly closed it with a snap. She sighed once more before rubbing her temple with her hand. "Look, Yukio." She began, obviously attempting to hold a civilized conversation. "Maybe you should put the game down for a while. You've been playing it all day today. It isn't good for you."

Everyone else glanced at each other as they watched Riruka try to convince Yukio to give it a rest for a while. All of them had tried at least once in the past couple of days and had been completely ignored in return.

"I mean," Riruka continued on, ignorant of the looks being thrown her way. "If you play too much then you'll have to get glasses, like the ones I'm supposed to wear. You don't want that do you?" She tried her best to sent him an understanding look, but she had no idea if she pulled it off.

Yukio sent her an impassive look before shrugging his shoulders and dropping the game down beside him. Everyone waited for his response. "...Harry used to tell me that." The boy shrugged once more before turning away and pulling on his hat. The brim was used to overshadow his eyes.

If there wasn't silence before that sentence was spoken, then there was definitely was now. At the mention of Harry, everyone was now openly staring at the both of them. Jackie's mouth was set in a snarl, while Giriko looked on impassively, and Ginjo had taken on an interesting mixture of surprise and regret.

"W-well," Riruka attempted to carried on strongly, but it was plain to see that she had not expected that ball to be dropped. "Someone has to!" She then folded her arms across her chest, as though challenging him to say otherwise.

But before Yukio could respond, Jackie's harsh voice cut into their conversation. "Oh c'mon kid!" She exclaimed, aggravation filling her words. "Are you seriously still going on about that! Get over it, that punk was nothing but a traitorous bastard! He's just like everyone else!"

"Hey! Shut the hell up!" In an uncharacteristic display of anger, Yukio (who was usually so quiet) had shouted back at Jackie. The act itself was surprising enough that Jackie had stopped her tirade out of surprise.

She recovered quickly enough though. "Oh, get the hell over it, Yukio! He left! Period!" Jackie began to stomp over to where Yukio was sitting and began to get into his face. "Grow up a little, kid!"

Riruka jumped to her feet immediately and gripped Jackie's arm harshly before forcing the older girl to turn her way. "Mind your own damn business!" She snarled at her. "Was anyone talking to you, you bitch!"

At this point Giriko decided to let his thoughts known. "Well..." He began slowly. "She does have a point..."

"You shut up too, old man!"

"Ha!" Jackie yelled out triumphantly as she ripped her arm from Riruka's grip. "You just can't take the truth!"

And soon the room was filled to the brim with shouts coming from Riruka, Jackie, and Yukio, though the sarcastic comments thrown in by Giriko did nothing to help. It was impossible to tell if the older man really believed what he was saying, or whether he just wanted some form of entertainment.

"EVERYONE!" Shouted Ginjo as he expanded his spiritual pressure in an effort to shift their focus to him. "SHUT UP FOR A SECOND!" He could the his spiritual power pouring until he had gotten all eyes on him, and only then did he rein it in.

"Jackie!" He barked. "Stop being such an ass and shut the hell up!" But before the girl could respond, Ginjo whirled to face Yukio. "You! Get over it already!" Once again, any response that might have been made was ignored as Ginjo set his sights to Riruka. "Riruka, get out of denial!"

"Giriko!" Ginjo finally set his glare on the oldest member of Xcution and opened his mouth to berate him, before he realized that he really didn't have anything to say. So he said the first thing that came to mind. "Where the hell is my drink! I'm not drunk enough for this crap!"

With that said, Ginjo returned to sitting at the bar, and a tense silence that he tried his best to ignore settled down between his fellow Fullbringers. The only notable breaking of that silence came from Jackie grabbing her leather jacket from a coat hanger, and the slamming of a door when she left.

[-]

Dinner had just ended for Arisawa Tatsuki, and the girl was trying to keep herself busy by focusing on her homework, instead of thinking about how much of an idiot she had made out of herself earlier today.

Tatsuki didn't know what had gotten into her. It seemed like whenever Ichigo mentioned the Soul Society, or Hollows, or anything spiritual in general it just seemed to bring out the worst in her. Why couldn't he just leave it all well enough alone? Didn't he see how it got to her?

Ichigo should have gotten over all of that stuff by now. He had done his part–more than his part–and he deserved to put this stuff behind him. But Ichigo was just so stubborn, it seemed like he was dead set on getting mixed up in anything that looked vaguely 'mysterious'.

Was it really that hard for him to be normal? Tatsuki couldn't understand how it could be. Ichigo had been pretty much normal fifteen entire years before getting mixed up in everything. Sure, he could see spirits during that time, but with the way he complained about it you'd think he'd enjoy not having to deal with them.

Did he really miss his Soul Reaper friends that much? Tatsuki wasn't exactly sure who he knew or how much time he spent with them, but it could have been that long, right? Tatsuki understood that sometimes people could bond under strife, but could they have really gotten that close? In less then a year?

Or maybe it was because he had never been able to say goodbye properly? From what Ichigo had told her, the only Soul Reaper that had been around when he woke up from his month long coma was Rukia.

_Rukia..._ Tatsuki thought forlornly. Tatsuki knew that Ichigo and Rukia were close, but she still doesn't understand why. Ichigo always seemed to feel like he owed something her for giving him her powers. Tatsuki just saw it as a girl not knowing how to do her job properly and as a result almost gotten the people she had set out to save killed.

And that mistake had far reaching consequences for everyone! Rukia had almost gotten Ichigo killed (by her older brother no less!) because she had failed to inform him that what she had done to him was illegal!

And then for no reason, Ichigo (stupid, proud, idiotic Ichigo) chased after her and ended up right in the middle of more battles and conspiracies. Almost dying a couple more times (Ichigo had even admitted to her that Aizen almost sliced him completely in half!) until he _finally_ saved Rukia.

And then Ichigo came home and things were somewhat normal for a while. At least, until Rukia came back and dragged Ichigo into everything all over again. Tatsuki frowned to herself as she continued working on her homework. _Whenever Rukia comes into Ichigo's life...something goes wrong. _

That was the truth of it. The whole of the Spiritual World in general brought nothing but problems. Tatsuki would rather leave the Hollows and Soul Reapers until she actually died, not when she still had so much of her life to live.

The teenager cursed herself for being stupid enough to tell Ichigo that the man they had meet on the street had spiritual energy. That had been a mistake, there was no way that Ichigo would be able to ignore a man like that. Tatsuki still couldn't believe that she had told him!

Her comment about the man's spiritual energy was supposed to be a warning. But, of course, Ichigo had to take it the completely wrong way. For a few seconds after she had informed him, Tatsuki had been afraid that the moron would go chasing after the man and get himself killed.

But after every had calmed down a little and they were far, far away from where they had run into the man, Tatsuki had set out to finish what she had started earlier; find out what was bothering her friend. The confessions that she had obtained after a while of nonstop were not what she had expected.

Honestly, Tatsuki didn't know what she had expected to be bothering Ichigo. It could have been any number of things. His father (who was always a prime suspect), something bad happening to his younger sisters, some jerk-off wanting to start a fight, or maybe Ichigo being afraid of losing his job. Normal, everyday problems.

Instead, Tatsuki had gotten feelings of extreme uselessness that she couldn't understand, (hadn't he done enough?) and anger at not being able to fight whatever monster of the week average Soul Reapers dealt with. It was completely ridiculous! Couldn't Ichigo just get over that stuff already? It was like he had a death wish or something!

Tatsuki sighed and slumped forward. Sometimes, she just didn't understand Ichigo.

[-]

Asano Keigo settled himself on a marginally uncomfortable bench and looked long and hard at the night sky above him. He was alone. Mizuiro had gone home awhile ago, and since it had just been the two of them before that, Keigo didn't have anyone to hang out with now.

He could go home, but that wasn't an option that he was ready to take right as of right now. His mother wouldn't be home for a long while now (as usual) and Keigo really didn't want to have to deal with his older sister right now.

That wasn't to say that Mizuho was a bad older sister, she was just bossy and a little overbearing at times. Going home right now would only lead to some kind of confrontation, and Keigo didn't feel up to dealing with that either. Honestly, Keigo didn't feel up to much of anything at this particular moment. He was still somewhat pissed off at Ichigo from what happened earlier today.

Really, just what the hell was up with him? How many times had Keigo tried to get his friend to open up, only to be completely shot down or out ignored in return? Keigo had offered an ear to listen with more times than he could count, but no one seemed to take him seriously.

Was he really that much of a screw up? Or did they just write him off as a childish idiot that wouldn't be able to understand their complex, 'grown up' feelings and problems. Is that what it was? Just because he was Asano 'I always have a smile on his face' Keigo, they assumed that he didn't have any problems, and thus weren't able to relate or help with their own?

It wasn't exactly 'easy' dealing with a moody and battle-fatigued Kurosaki Ichigo for over a year after the so called Winter War ended. Ichigo may not like to acknowledge it (or maybe he just wasn't able to see it), but he came back from that final battle a complete wreck.

Dealing with Ichigo had almost been completely unbearable the first few months. He jumped randomly from angry mood swings to staring unseeingly at nothing as though he was attempting to will his ability to see spirits to return. It didn't help that it took forever for Ichigo to actually sit down and talk about what he had gone through since he first had gotten his powers.

Sure, everyone who mattered had been briefed by Rukia, but it was completely different to hear the stories from Ichigo's point of view. Even if Keigo was a hundred percent sure that he had hid more than a few things from them.

Then it had been up to Keigo and Tatsuki to help Ichigo get his life and grades back on track. As most people could guess, being a superhero tended to have a negative affect on a person's social and academic life. But, of course, Keigo was there to help and share his notes from class.

Now, Keigo knew that he wasn't the smartest person in the world, or even the best student in school, but he had tried. He tried his best to help out and didn't ask for anything in return (not that he would get anything if he did), he didn't even ask for a thank you. But he had expected something, he had expected his friends to understand that he was reliable when it counted, and that he more then just a screw up.

But in the end, it had all been for naught. Nothing had changed, especially their lack of respect for him.

Keigo sat stewing on that same bench for some time, unwilling to go home but not having anywhere else to head to that particular night. He doubted any of the girls were out this late, Ichigo was out of the question, Keigo wasn't all that close to Ishida, Tatsuki was dealing with Ichigo, and Chad...just, no.

Keigo sat, staring at the dark night sky for a while, until a voice drew him from his musing. "You look a little lost. Need some help?" He turned slowly to the speaker, and was pleasantly surprised by who met his gaze.

She was a woman that was a few years older than Keigo himself, maybe in her early twenties. Her skin was almost as dark as Chad's, maybe a shade or two lighter. She was bearing a black, baseball cap that had a half veil-like piece of see-through cloth that covered the right side of her face.

"Something on my face?" The girl asked, her eyebrow quirked in something resembling amusement. "Or are you just waiting for a camera flash?"

Keigo flushed a little at the insinuation, and shrugged before turning his head away from her to look forward. "Sorry." He apologized, "I was just surprised to see anyone out this late." The girl smirked, but seemed to take in what Keigo had said and didn't bring it up again.

The girl sauntered over to the bench and took a seat beside him. "Hmmmm..." She began. "So, are you gonna tell me what's gotten you looking so lost?" She didn't look particularly interested in how he would respond, and just seemed to be trying to fill the silence.

Keigo glanced at her from the corner of his eye, while still facing head resolutely ahead. He had no intention of getting caught staring at her again. "Nah, I don't wanna bore you with problems that you don't care about." It was true enough, why would some random girl care about what he was feeling? She was probably just trying to be polite.

"I don't know..." She mused. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty bored right now. I usually don't go trolling for strange men at night if I have something productive to do." Keigo couldn't help but gape at the girl's forwardness (or rudeness perhaps?). "So, shoot. Despite what you may think, I don't really have all night."

"Uhh–well–I" Keigo fumbled as he tried his best to put his feelings into words. He tried several times before calming down and taking a deep breath. "Well, um, have you ever felt, I don't know, uh, unappreciated?"

"Not really." The girl shrugged. "I've never really had anyone to appreciate me to begin with." Keigo didn't really know what he could say to that, so he decided to focus on his story.

"Well, a friend of mine, he had left town for a while a year ago." Keigo frowned as he thought back to the day Ichigo left to save Inoue and the terrible things he said to everyone as he tried to distance himself from them. "When he left, he was pretty mean about it, but everyone understood why. And eventually, after he was done doing what he had to do, he came back."

Keigo paused briefly, and it was easy to see by the way his eyes dimmed that he was looking into the past. "But...he came back a complete _mess_. He was so screwed up by the end of it all that, for a little while everyone thought that he was going to lose it. Or had lost it. Or...something." The tone that Keigo's voice took as he ended left little questioning as to what that 'something' really was.

"Okay..." The girl said evenly. She nodded her head and mentioned for him to carry on, and Keigo decided to abide by it. He seemed to steel himself for what was going to be said next, and the girl raised an eyebrow in at his change of stance.

"And during all that mess that he made of himself I always tried to, be there, ya'know. Tried to be a good friend and everything. I don't regret it... but, I don't think he cares. Or if he does, he doesn't care that much." Keigo ended for with on last deep sigh, and seemed to sink into himself a little. "Sorry, I kinda got a little deep there."

But the girl just shook her head easily, causing her veil to swing back and forth. "Don't be. I asked for it. Literally." She placed a light hand on Keigo's shoulder, though it seemed to tried her best to keep the gesture from being seen as intimate. "Well...I don't know what to say about that. I don't know the story..._obviously_." It was an easy reference to the details that Keigo had obviously left out, but the girl didn't seem to want any more.

"The best thing I can say is, maybe you just need to tell him that you feel like crap, and that he needs to get his head outta his ass." She shrugged her shoulders and removed her hand. "Or not. Whatever you feel like doing. Strangers are good listens, but bad advice-givers."

Keigo smiled at her, and began to show some of his classic humor. "Really? And here I thought I was the strange one. Maybe _I _was the one trolling for strange chicks." He chuckled at his own joke and leaned back against the bench. "After all, I don't have anything productive to do either."

"I dunno..." The girl countered as she leaned closer to him, and Keigo couldn't help but notice that her eyes were a golden-brown color. "I thought this little get-together was productive. And maybe..." She leaned in even closer to him, and Keigo couldn't help but heat up a little. "...by the end of tonight, this strange girl won't be too much of a stranger anymore."

By this point, Keigo's face was burning a deep dark crimson. And as he felt the girl draw in closer to him, something stupid came tumbling out of his mouth. "N-nice boots." He stuttered out, referencing the long, thigh-high leather boots the girl wore.

But the girl just laughed, and moved in closer.

[-]

With a groan and a sigh, Kurosaki Ichigo opened his closed eyes to stare blearily at the walls of his bedroom. Sunlight from the windows over his bed streamed in through the blinds that he had let down the night before, causing horizontal patterns of light to shine across his walls.

With a tired yawn that was soon accompanied by a sigh, Ichigo struggled to sit up and threw his covers off of himself. He lazily dragged his feet from their spot on the bed, and flinched as the heels of his feet meet his cold, wooden floor.

In such normal peacefulness, it took Ichigo several long seconds to realize that something was horribly off with the way he had woken up today. He even stayed sitting for several moments before realizing that what he was expecting to happen wouldn't be happening.

A normal average morning for Kurosaki Ichigo wasn't truly all that normal or average. Usually, he would be woken up by his father bursting loudly through his door, and proclaiming even more loudly for Ichigo to prepare himself as he flew across the room while executing some some kind of wrestling move he had seen prior from entering.

In response Ichigo would usually block whatever punch or kick he that was thrown, and return the favor with an attack of his own. Or, if he had a particularly good dream or an unusually bad night, Ichigo would try his best to throw his father out of the window over his bed. Some days he would succeed, some days he wouldn't.

But there wasn't any obnoxious entrance, loudly proclaimed challenge, or high-flying kick this morning. This morning was...peaceful. Which was something that completely freaked Ichigo out, so much so that he had sat on his bed staring at a wall for more then a few minutes.

Eventually, Ichigo stood up and shuffled over to his closet. When he reached it, he took out his school uniform and proceeded to get dressed. After he was done tugging on his shoes, Ichigo grabbed his school bag and trudged down stairs.

After dropping his bag on the last step, Ichigo wandered into the kitchen hoping to get some food in his stomach. He was surprised to see that while both of his sisters and father were sitting at the kitchen table, all of them were stilling wearing their sleeping clothes.

For his sisters, that meant their pajamas. For his father, that meant a ghastly orange bathrobe that was polka-dotted with blue. Of course, the man's whole ensemble was capped off with bright yellow sleeping pants covered in white fluffy clouds. Just the sight of him made Ichigo's eyes burn.

"Ahhhh!" His father exclaimed in between in between forkfuls of scrambled eggs that Yuzu no doubted made. "Finally! My useless neanderthal of a son awakens! Perhaps he is not so useless!" Isshin pointed that same fork at Ichigo in a manner similar to how a teacher would brandish a ruler. "Where were you last night! And how come you didn't spend time with your adorable younger sisters?"

Ichigo shrugged as he pulled out his usual chair. He was careful enough not to scrape it too harshly against the white tiles of the floor, that was a habit he had fallen into a while ago. "I was tired. Needed some time to think."

The wild gesturing of his father drew Ichigo away from the questioning looks of his younger sisters. "Then it is time you shall have!" The man proclaimed in his usual overly boisterous manner, spraying egg and what was once bacon from his mouth. "While you were asleep, I decided that today we will all play hooky!"

Ichigo wasn't surprised at the revelation. It was easy to see by their lack of dress that his family wasn't planning on going anywhere today. The timing of such a thing was suspect though, especially considering what Ichigo had heard last night. While something this spontaneous was certainly right up his father's alley, the execution had Ichigo on guard.

Yes, while doing something like this was just like his father, leaving Ichigo to sleep the day away was most certainly not. Ichigo wold have expected his father to still wake him up at the crack of dawn, and only let it be known that they could stay home for the day right before they had to leave.

It was almost as if Isshin was trying to make sure that Ichigo wouldn't go to school as subtly as possible. Not waking him up after Ichigo claimed that he was tired from the night before? Ichigo had no doubt that Yuzu told their father that he was most likely not feeling well, so it was easy to guess that he might sleep longer than he normally did.

Letting him decide whether up or not he could go only sweetened the deal. While Ichigo didn't hate school, it wasn't his favorite place in the world. Just like any other teenager, he wouldn't mind missing a day here or there.

Or maybe Ichigo was just being dramatic and letting a conversation that he shouldn't have listened in on get to him? After all, his father could just be worried about that Harry guy running around town. Maybe he just wanted to make sure that Ichigo wouldn't run into him again?

But that line of thought ran back to Ichigo being tracked by his father and any attempt at rationalizing his father's reasons halted immediately.

"No thanks, I need to head to school today." Ichigo responded as he grabbed a plate and helped himself to the remaining food. "I need to do some stuff. Ignoring it will just make it worse." Even though Ichigo began to dig into his own breakfast, he was careful to note any change in his father's expression.

"What? Why!" His father shouted, as an over exaggerated look of outrage appeared on his face. "Do you not want to spend time with your beloved, innocent, darling younger sisters? HAVE YOU NO SHAME! DO YOU NOT LOVE THEM!" Isshin whirled to face his daughters, and tried to impress upon them the awfulness that was Ichigo.

Karin rolled her eyes and did her best to ignore their father. "So, Ichigo. Why the sudden need to head to school?" There was a question in her eyes that were no doubt reflected in her twin's. "Is it the same thing that made you go all 'teenager', and camp out in your room without talking to anyone?"

"Tsk, hardly." Ichigo grumbled before stealing Yuzu's glass and drinking the orange juice in it. "Gotta talk to Tatsuki. We had a..." He paused and struggled to explain what had happened before shrugging. "Hell, I don't even know what happened yesterday." He shrugged and placed the glass back from where he had gotten it. Empty, of course.

"_Reeeeaaaalllllyyyy..._" Karin leaned forward in her chair. "Did you fight? I mean, like actually fist fight and not argue an–"

"TATSUKI!" Isshin threw his arms into the air and shouted for all to hear as he cut off his daughter. "The first girl that my idiot son brought home! I always felt that she was too good for you, almost like the daughter I never had in exchange for the son I didn't plan!" It seemed that he had gotten bored of saying Ichigo didn't love his sisters, so he moved onto Tatsuki.

Isshin carried on with his tirade in his usual grandiose manner. "I remember the first time she beat your scrawny butt up and down the dojo! Around that time I had started to realize that I might have had three daughters instead of two!"

He was ignored in favor of Yuzu. "Ichi-nii, it that why you were so down last night?" The girl shared a look with her twin before continuing. "What happened? Why did you and Tatsuki fight?"

"I have no idea." Ichigo honestly had no clue, he wasn't just saying that to avoid answering the question, though that was part of it. He had no clue what had gotten into his old friend. He really did need to speak with her, that was one of the reasons he was going to school today. "We started talking and it just kind of...fell to pieces."

Yuzu nodded in silent understanding while Karin snickered and their father sobbed quietly to himself on how he was being ignored by his precious children and Ichigo. In between eating and chatting with his family, Ichigo checked the clock on the wall and realized that school had been in session for almost an hour.

When Ichigo had finished and gotten up to retrieve his school bad and prepared to leave, his father bemoaned loudly at how Ichigo didn't appreciate the importance of family time and how first born sons played into it all.

Surprisingly enough, it was Karin that defended his choice. Usually she was all for watching her older brother and father to duke it out. "Oh shut down, Goat-man. Ichigo's taking his first step at becoming a productive member of society." She shrugged and finished her juice. "After all, he still has to apologize for whatever he did wrong."

"Don't say that Karin-chan!" Yuzu admonished her twin sister. "It doesn't have to be Ichi-nii's fault. He doesn't even know what went wrong!" She huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "You always think the worst of him."

Ichigo just shook his head and began to leave. He had no intention of staying and watching an argument that he would be undoubtedly drawn into. He hefted his bag unto his shoulder and continued on his path to the front door.

Just as he reached for the doorknob, Ichigo heard his father's voice from behind him.

"Ichigo! Do you not wish to spend time with your family!"

The way his father spoke was the same as it had always been, loud, outrageous and obnoxious. From the pounding he heard, Ichigo could easily guess without turning around that his father was no doubt jumping up and down like some sort of overgrown child.

But even with all of the extra energy and noise, Ichigo could still hear the silent accusations. _Why are you leaving? What are you hiding?_ They were subtle, but no less powerful. _What happened yesterday? Where did you go? What happened?_

It was hard, trying to act so normal in front of Yuzu and Karin when he knew that his father was spying on him. To smile and act like he didn't hear what he did, and try his best to not let any of the anger he felt show.

Ichigo knew that this last question was a test. He knew that his father would assume that he had learned something if he decided to leave. His father played the part of a fool masterfully, but he was far from idiotic when he chose to be. If Ichigo made the choice to leave now, he would be showing his hand.

But it was already safe to assume that his father might suspect something already. If Isshin's actions were anything to go by, it would be safe to assume that he may believe that Ichigo had already been told something important.

Or maybe he was trying to keep Ichigo home because whatever he used to track him was still malfunctioning? Was his father going to keep an eye on him until whatever was jammed is fixed? Or maybe he was hoping that Harry would come and try to find Ichigo at home if he waited long enough?

Still, for whatever reason the question was asked, Ichigo had to respond. Leaving without replying would send an even worse message. "Yeah, I'm sure. There are some things that need to get done, and I can't ignore what's going on anymore."

That was a warning. There was no possible way that his father would miss what Ichigo was trying to tell him. It was a chance for his father to spill whatever secret he is hiding and tell him about what was going on.

"THEN BEGONE SON OF MINE!" Isshin shouted to the heavens. "RUN TO THE BEAUTY THAT HAS CAPTURED YOUR HEART!"

Ichigo could help but feel disappointed in his father's response. It was expected, but no less of an let down.

With one last goodbye, Ichigo set off towards school, and away from the home he grew up in.

_"The worst kinds of decisions are the one's where there is never a better choice, where you have to __decide between those you care about, and your own morals. These are the kind of decisions which you never have a true choice in. If you're a nice person and you love your friends, you've already chosen to sacrifice your own well being for them. If you aren't, then you've already decided that they aren't worth giving into the demands for. And after one of these choices are made, that just leaves one last question to be answered:_

_Which one am I?_

_-_Kurosaki Ichigo

**Author's Note:**

Well, there's that. The second chapter to this monster of a story and it's already longer then anything else I've published on this site. I still cannot tell if this is a good thing or not. Good for you maybe, annoying for me. But the fun kind of annoying, if you get what I mean.

Just a heads up. For right now, the story isn't going to be moving a break-neck speed. There will be action, I just have to build up to it. I also have to be careful that I don't go so far ahead from cannon that it becomes useless or I have to create unneeded characters or guess powers for any new ones that may show up.

Which is why I'm going the route of several storylines at once instead of just explaining things in flashbacks. Ichigo and Harry are the primary storylines, with Keigo and Tatsuki diverging from Ichigo's and Xcution diverging from Harry's. Chad and Uryu get their own smaller story line in between. The linking begins with Keigo and will go from there.

About Urahara: In many ways, Urahara is Ichigo's Dumbledore. He's help out many times, but each and every one of those times he had a very specific reason to do so. There were times where he hide facts, information, and outright manipulated Orihime. I'm trying to strike a balance between Ichigo believing that Urahara could go behind his back, with whatever faith Ichigo has in him.

I personally felt that Ichigo believed the worst in his father and Urahara rather easily in cannon, and I'm trying to get him to that point in a logical manner. The pieces are all already there, just gotta work 'em in.

About Harry: The best part of this chapter for me, is Harry's small part. I allude to several things without really tying myself down. Can't wait to eventually write why he is doing what he is doing, and how he plans to get Ichigo's powers back.

About Xcution: Do they and Harry have a long, sordid history together? Or is memory manipulation involved? And if so, who is affected and who isn't? Why was Riruka so defensive? Taking a deeper look into her cannon history has me believing that this girl may very well be a sociopath.

Jeez. As the chapters get longer, so do the AN's.

Laters.


	3. Chapter 3

Within the Eternity Circle

Chapter 3: Catching Fifteen and Twenty-two

_It's funny. You beat the bad guy, saved your friends, and saved your home. You've done what you set out to do, and you completed your goal. You struggle and battle, fight and protect, win and lose, and in the end; you save the world. But somehow, someway..._

_It's your world that ends._

-Kurosaki Ichigo

Ichigo sighed to himself as he took his late pass from Shinta-san, the front office worker before he hurried to class. Thanks to a combination of how late he had woken up, breakfast with his family, and the fact that he dragged his feet on the way to school, it was well into second period.

As he made his way up the stairs and to the second floor, Ichigo began to wonder if Tatsuki came to school today. Ichigo wasn't lying when he told his family that he planned on talking to her eventually. He was still annoyed at how she just left him yesterday, and a little worried over why she did.

Despite how silent she had gone, it was easy to see that Tatsuki had been annoyed or at maybe even angry at something that he had said last night. Which was funny, since she had been hounding him about talking and 'opening up' to her. The whole episode reminded him uncomfortably of what had went down between them the day after Orihime had been forced into Hueco Mundo.

Even till this day her questions confused him. _What am I to you?_ She had asked him, close to tears; even though he was the one that had gotten his head punched through a window. _Aren't we friends?_ Of course Tatsuki was Ichigo's friend, they were friends even when she beat him at the Dojo!

And they became even better friends after his mother's death, Ichigo still remembered how Tatsuki would defend him from bullies when he was too depressed to fight back against them. She had done a lot for him back in those days, and he would never forget that.

Tatsuki even knew his family, and he knew her's. His sisters absolutely adored her, Yuzu thought she was the coolest and Karin looked up to her. Even his father became a little more bearable when she was around, even if he became twice as worse the minute she left.

Tatsuki was his oldest friend. And while they might have drifted a little during middle school when Ichigo had dropped out of karate and Tatsuki met Orihime, she had never stopped being his friend.

And while Ichigo can acknowledge that things between them had gotten even more rocky after he became a Soul Reaper, was that really his fault? Most of the time he had been trying to stay alive while struggling to balance two different lives at the same time. It was perfectly understandable that he'd miss a few get-togethers and wasn't always able to walk home with her, right?

And besides, telling her about what was going on would have only made her worry about him; and he didn't need anymore of that. Between Rukia, Karin, and Orihime, Ichigo had more then enough worry-warts to deal with at the time.

Had things between them degenerate so much back then that she hadn't thought they were friends any longer? And even if she did back think that back then, she had to know they were now, right? Ichigo probably spent more time with Tatsuki now than ever, since Orihime hung out more with Chad and Uryu.

Ichigo's thoughts shifted focus quickly to his two old teammates, Chad and Uryu. He wondered if they knew something about what was going on and decided not to tell him. Some part of him understood what they were trying to do, they were trying to protect him because he was of no help.

But Ichigo felt that if whatever conflict was going on around town had something to do with him, then he should have been told. He might not be some random civilian, he just might become a target. And if Ichigo really was a target, then he should know enough to be able to avoid what he should and shouldn't do.

Eventually Ichigo reached the class he was supposed to be in, and entered swiftly. His teacher was speaking to the class, so he opted to leave the note on her desk and carry on to an open seat. The closest one available was next to Keigo, so he settled down there.

It was impossible to miss the smug grin on the brunette's face, making Ichigo wonder about why his friend was so happy. Keigo had been in a rather bad mood after speaking with Ichigo yesterday (something that was turning into a rather bad trend, Ichigo noticed), and the teen wasn't sure if he should bring that up or not.

Ichigo reasoned that yesterday might have just been a bad day for the brunette, but Keigo didn't really have 'bad days', so to speak. It wasn't what Keigo had said that was the problem (though he had gotten awfully personal about it), but how he had said what he said. It sounded like Keigo had been stewing in whatever was bothering him for a while, and that in itself was somewhat worrying.

What was so bad that Keigo had kept it to himself for any amount of time? Ichigo usually had a hard enough time getting Keigo to shut up on a regular basis, the guy had always been a motormouth; the thought of Keigo keeping something to himself was laughable. Especially if it was important, he usually went to Mizuiro for advice on anything important.

But Ichigo could be looking for problems that weren't really there. Yesterday's revelations could be impacting his judgment and causing him to jump at shadows. It seemed that Keigo was better then ever, so maybe Ichigo should just calm down and get out of his own head.

As he began to retrieve his notebook and textbook from his bag, Ichigo cast a subtle glance at Tatsuki. His old friend was sitting on the other side of the classroom, in between two students Ichigo couldn't name. She didn't notice him looking her way, and as such kept her focus on taking notes.

Tatsuki didn't look overly annoyed or angry, but Ichigo knew that she had something of a short temper. Ichigo also knew that if he tried to avoid her, Tatsuki would confront him on principal alone. The best he could try to do was approach her and try to find out what was bothering her before an argument gets started. Fighting with Tatsuki was never pleasant.

Faced with his inability to do anything about Tatsuki at the moment, Ichigo reached forward to the seat in front of his and tapped Mizuiro on the shoulder when their teacher's back was turned. When his friend turned back to meet his gaze, Ichigo gave a slight nod towards an oblivious Keigo, silently asking what had gotten the so giddy.

Mizuiro just shrugged and turned back to his work. For several minutes, Ichigo was sure that he had just been brushed off, until a folded up square of paper was thrown over Mizuiro's shoulder and onto Ichigo's desk. Ichigo unfolded the paper and read what was written.

_He says he's got a date after school._ Ichigo's jaw dropped a little as he shot an unbelieving glance at Keigo before he continued to read. _Says that he met her after school yesterday and that she's hot. Got kind of annoying, wouldn't shut up about it. -Mizuiro_

So Keigo had gotten in some time with a hot girl? _Yup. _Ichigo thought, _That would get him back to normal. Better than normal even._

Still marveling over the fact that his skirt-chasing friend had actually managed to get himself a date, Ichigo tried his best to focus on his classwork. Every once in a while he would glance at either Keigo or Tatsuki, wondering how he should approach either of them.

Soon enough the bell rang, and Ichigo was one of the first student's out of the classroom. He leaned against the wall next to the door and watched his classmates file out and go to their next subjects. Mizuiro had begun to wait for him, but Ichigo waved his friend off. He didn't plan on making it to third period.

When Tatsuki had eventually exited the classroom she had been speaking to Ryo and Michiru, two of her friends.

Ichigo finally left the wall and walked down the hall with them. It didn't surprise Ichigo that Michiru stopped taking almost immediately, the had always been wary of him. Ryo just focused on reading one of the small books that she always carried with her.

It was awkward to say the least.

Ichigo made the first move. "I need to talk to you." He tried his best to look Tatsuki in the eye, with was hard given the fact that she was facing forward and away from him. "It's about yesterday." He ignored Ryo's raised eyebrow and Michiru's questioning glance. "It's important."

But Tatsuki just scoffed and didn't spare him a glance. "Oh, so _now_ you wanna talk. Too bad, I don't." All of them turned a corner in the hallway. "Besides, we all have class to go to." Her tone was tight, no doubt she considered that the end of the conversation and wanted Ichigo gone.

The irony of the situation was lost on Ichigo, in fact, it just kind of pissed him off. Just yesterday Tatsuki had been the one wanting to talk and he had wanted her gone. "Seriously, Tatsuki. I need to talk to you, it's important." He paused before adding, "More important then just one class. Lunch is right after anyway."

But Tatsuki didn't budget a inch. "Well, it can wait until after school." She cast a dark look at Ichigo's general direction, but didn't meet his gaze. "Sucks doesn't it, when you want to say something and I decide to avoid you."

"Are you still on that?" Ichigo questioned incredulously, was Tatsuki trying to teach him a lesson or something? "Are you seriously giving me that? Is that why you just ran out on me yesterday?" He ignored the fact that Ryo had began to put her book away and while sharing a knowing glance with Michiru.

"What?" Tatsuki barked, stopping and finally turning to face him. "What the hell do you mean–"

"Oh come on Tatsuki." Ryo drawled as she sent Ichigo a disapproving glare. "Throw the boy a bone. He's begging enough." The girl met the glare Ichigo tossed her way passively. "Maybe he'll even get his head out of his ass."

Ichigo just bit back a scathing retort and grabbed Tatsuki by her wrist before leading the girl away. He'd deal with Ryo some other time, that girl had never liked him anyway. Fortunately, the feeling was reciprocated one hundred fold.

Eventually Tastuki broke from his grip, though she still decided to follow him, even if she did mutter darkly the entire walk to one of the school's empty stairwells. Soon the two of them were alone, and Ichigo dropped his bag as he sat on the steps.

Tatsuki stared standing, glaring at him. "What the hell do you think you were doing?" She demanded. "Don't just grab me like that! You're lucky that I didn't break your wrist."

"If you didn't want to be with me then you would've left." Ichigo shot back, his words reminiscent to the one's she spoke to him the day before. "Just shut up for a minute and let me talk, alright?" He waited for an answer, but didn't get one. "Alright?"

Tatsuki stared hard, but nodding stiffly and moving to sit beside him. "Fine."

Ichigo waited for Tatsuki to settle herself before speaking. "You know that guy we meet yesterday? One the bench? Well he–"

"Oh come on Ichigo!" Tatsuki cried out, sounding particularly aggravated. "I thought I told you to just let that go! I can't believe you dragged me all the way down here just to bring him up again!" The funny thing was, Tatsuki was more annoyed at herself than Ichigo. Tatsuki knew that she should have just kept her mouth shut, if she hadn't said anything, then they wouldn't be having this conversation.

"He found me."

"I–What?"

"He found me." Ichigo repeated again. "After you went home I was wondering around town, and he found me. He told me some things, showed off his powers, and then he disappeared." Ichigo paused for a second, wondering whether of not he should tell Tatsuki about Harry offering to restore his powers.

Tatsuki's mind was beginning to stall. "He met with you?" At her friend's nod, she continued. "Well, what the hell are we sitting here talking about it for? Tell Orihime or Chad or someone!" In Tatsuki's mind, that was the right thing to do. If your being stalked by some possibly super powered guy, you go grab you super powered friends.

Wasn't protecting Karakura Town form spiritual psychos their job?

But Ichigo just shook his head and sighed. "I think that probably already know. And I think they might have decided not to tell me."

Tatsuki noticed the look in her friend's eye. "Well, why wouldn't they? Back then you guys never told us 'normal people' what was going on." As she spoke, a hint of bitterness could be heard. "I mean, even when it was us getting attacked and everything, you guys never told us a damn thing."

Ichigo knew that Tatsuki was hinting at Orihime's capture and his decision not to tell her. "It wasn't that easy. A lot was going on back then, and this time it's different." He frowned at the scoff that he was awarded with. "What?"

"The only difference is that it's you being kept in the dark this time." Her words were dark and forceful. "It sucks, doesn't it? Knowing that your friends are running around behind your back and you can't do a damn thing about it. It's even worse because you have no damn idea what's going on since no one will tell you."

"You have no idea what it was like for every else back then." Tatsuki was really starting to get into her tirade. "Seeing you fighting Hollows and having no idea what to do. None of us could talk to anyone, and we all had to sit by and watch our friends fight giant monsters."

"And it's not like anyone could speak to you guys. You all just shut up or up and left whenever someone tried to talk to any of you about it." Tatsuki's fist clenched in anger, and Ichigo leaned away from her in case she decided to lash out. "Do you know how useless that made everyone feel? Do you?"

Of course Ichigo knew what feeling useless felt like, it wasn't like he was bursting with power over here. The past year hadn't been particularly fun for him on any level. "Of course I know how that feels. Try knowing all of that, and not being able to see any of it. At all."

Ichigo stood up and started to pace back and forth. "I mean, it's not like you've just had a huge piece of your life cut away." He began sarcastically. "I mean, it's not like you haven't lost the one thing that set you apart from everyone else. The one thing that made you feel special and different."

"You just don't understand! I've seen spirits all of my life, I've grown up around them! It's like the world has lost half of it's population or something. Jeez, sometimes I feel like I'm blind!" It was true. Sometimes when Ichigo was with everyone, and they happen to glance at a ghost doing something funny or a ghost asks them a question, Ichigo felt like the odd man out.

Just about all of his friends could see spirits now. It was like some sick act of karma; the minute Ichigo decides to come clean about everything and about him seeing spirits he loses the ability and all of his friends gain it.

"Stop being so melodramatic!" Tatsuki bit back. "From what I heard, you used to complain about seeing them all the time!"

"But I never expected not to see them!" Ichigo called out, not realizing that his voice was beginning to raise. "How would you like it if I just broke your legs and see how well you do without karate for a year!"

Tatsuki jumped to her feet at that, and stomped right over to Ichigo and got into his face. "Ichigo." She spat out, her eyes boring into his own. "Come at me like that again, and I will _beat you down_. You seem to forget that you don't have that nice pretty sword at your back anymore."

Ichigo took her jab at being powerless badly, and it show in the narrowing of his eyes. If Tatsuki had been anyone else, she would have been swung on for getting in Ichigo's face like this. Actually, she probably wouldn't have gotten this close period.

They stood there for some time, glaring at each other. Ichigo breathing deeply with retrained anger with Tatsuki all but snarling at him. Ichigo was sure that if it really came down to it, he'd be able to take Tatsuki in a fight. But he also knew that a fight between the both of them would end in a lot of blood and a broken friendship.

Those words from so long ago came back to him: _What am I to you? _What was Tatsuki to him? His friend? A rival? A person that he's know for the majority of his life?

It really didn't matter in the end though, if Ichigo threw a punch or goaded her into a fight then whatever she was to him would die. Did he really want to give that up? If he ended up fighting her all he would do is lose. He would lose more then he'd ever admit to.

It was with great self control that Ichigo stepped away from Tatsuki. His breathing had settled though his shoulders were still tensed and his hands still clenched. "I don't even know why I bother." He snarled at both her and himself. "I'm so done."

With that, he stalked over to the steps, retrieved his bag and began to walk off. He only paused to say one last thing. "Tatsuki, if you tell anyone about what I told you..."

"I will _never_ speak to you again."

[-]

"I think we should contact them today."

Uryu looked up from his sandwich, little to no surprise showing on his face. He could tell that Chad had been thinking about Xcution all day; and to be honest, so had he.

The offer was insane. Restore Kurosaki's powers? That would be incredible. Not only would Chad, Orihime, and himself have someone to share the load with, Kurosaki would be pulled out of the steep depression that he'd been drowning in. The way he was now was almost physically painful to look at.

But the offer was too good to be true. Why would anyone want to restore Ichigo's powers? And why would they do it in such a roundabout way? Going to Chad instead of going straight to Ichigo didn't make since. Even though Uryu was beyond glad that this guy didn't go to Kurosaki. Uryu wasn't sure if Ichigo would turn him down.

Uryu knew from personal experience how much being powerless ate at a person. He couldn't imagine being like that for a whole year. He barely lasted a couple of weeks._ Power...it is almost like a drug..._ Uryu mused. To go from superhuman to average doesn't just shake your self-confidence, it destroys it.

"I hear you." Uryu replied. "But don't you think it's pretty early in the game to make a move?" Chad had been restless ever since the man's offer. Uryu had to wonder why. Did he just want to fight with Ichigo again? Or was the way Kurosaki's been living starting to get to him?

It would be fair to say that Chad was closer to Kurosaki than Uryu. The two had known each other since middle school after all. Perhaps Chad was trying to be a good friend? Or maybe he was trying to make up for being a bad one? He and Kurosaki hadn't been spending much time together for a while...

"No, I don't." Chad responded. "If we wait too long then he's likely to go after Ichigo himself, and us trying to check him out would be pointless."

"To be fair, how is us trying to check him out going to solve anything? He could just lie to us, how would we know any better?" Uryu question his friend seriously. "You said this guy was human, but for all we know he's some Soul Reaper running around in a Gigai. He could say that he's from the Soul Society and we'd never be able to confirm it."

"We could ask Urahara."

Uryu sent Chad a disbelieving look. "Ask Urahara? Since when has he ever told anyone the truth?" It wasn't necessary for Uryu to point out all the times he had lied or withheld information from everyone. "He's liable to stab us in the back if it's to save himself or enact some plan of his."

"I wouldn't go that far." Chad countered resolutely. "He not have told us everything, but it always worked out in the end."

"It did? You mean like when we were both almost killed by captains and imprisoned in the Soul Society? Or how about when we were forced to defend Karakura from a war that was almost entirely that man's fault?"

"You think far too badly of him." Chad intoned evenly. "He's isn't nearly as bad as you say he is."

"And you're always determined to see the best in people. Not everyone is as loyal as you are Chad, you need to understand that."

[-]

Ichigo stared hard at Karakura Town, almost as if he were willing it to reveal any of it's hidden secrets. He had came to the roof to be alone after the train wreck of a conversation that he had with Tatsuki. Now it was lunch time, so he wasn't by himself anymore. Keigo and Mizuiro joined as well.

He still couldn't believe what had happened between him and Tatsuki. He had meant for the two of them to talk about what had happened yesterday, but the girl could be so infuriating sometimes. Tatsuki had claimed for years that Ichigo had a bad attitude, but she hadn't been a bundle of joy lately either.

It confused Ichigo to no end. Most of the time she was fine, but then it was like a switch was flipped or something, and then they were arguing. And arguments between himself and Tatsuk tend to get really heated. Ichigo guessed that it was because he and Tatsuki were very similar. Both of them were a little too hot headed and quick to anger at the best of times; and the history they shared with one another just allowed them to goad each other with much greater success than the average person.

Tatsuki said that there is something wrong with him? Well, she wasn't doing all that well either. It was obvious that there was something eating at her, but Ichigo doubted that he'd be able to find out what it was. She would have to come to him.

His first mistake today was making the first move. Even during fights Tatsuki always had to be the aggressor, the person taking charge. Ichigo should have let her come to him. Tatsuki did have much patience, and if she wanted to say something to him or was willing to listen, then she would have came to him.

But Ichigo didn't have much patience either, he just wanted the whole confrontation over and done with. He'd have to pull back now, and hope that Tatsuki would cool down enough to talk to him soon.

Ichigo admits that his parting words were probably a mistake. He shouldn't have given Tatsuki an ultimatum like that. She might just go out and tell the others out of spite, not caring about the consequences. Ichigo knew that he probably would.

Not that Ichigo actually ever planned on throwing away his friendship with her. That had been spur of the moment. A threat that he hoped would keep Tatsuki from telling anyone about Harry. It probably wouldn't work, and would only make things worse.

Ichigo sighed as he held his head in his heads. He wasn't even sure _why_ he didn't want anyone to know about Harry. It wasn't like he could protect them by withholding information, _if _there was something that they needed to be protected from.

Was he refusing to tell them out of some petty form of revenge? Was it payback for what they might not be telling him? Was there was anything that they actually had to be told about? Yes, there might be a dangerous gang running around Karakura, but he wasn't even sure if his friends knew or not.

Ichigo's right hand fell to his side, and tapped his thigh pocket. He could feel the metal of the keys that had been given to him. Keys that may or may not lead to him getting back his powers. Keys that might just let him find out just what is going on around him. If there was truly anything going on beyond his father and Urahara spying on him.

"I'm telling ya man!" He heard Keigo shout out in good humor. "Jackie's hot bro. Really, really hot." He began to animatedly press buttons on his phone, before finding what he was looking for, and holding the device outward for everyone to see. "See? Look!"

Ichigo pulled himself from his thoughts to survey the picture. The girl shown had dark skin, chin length hair, brown eyes, and full lips. He had to admit, she was good looking. It was hard to find someone that exotic looking in Japan.

"Bull! Lies!" Mizuiro proclaimed loudly before lowering his voice and continuing normally. "I still don't believe that you have a date with this chick. She's way too hot for you. Way. Too. Hot." He wrenched the phone from Keigo's grasp and began examining the photo even closer. "I bet you pulled this from the internet or something."

Keigo began to squawk and make grabs for his phone, but Mizuiro moved away every time. "No! The reason I asked to take her picture was to be able to prove to you guys that I, Asano Keigo, can get a girl!"

Lunches completely forgotten as Mizuiro continued to dodge around Keigo's grabs and search the phone for more pictures. "What? You asked her for a picture? Lame! That was your first mistake, girls don't like it when you try to prove stuff like that."

Mizuiro was practically dancing around the roof as Keigo began to lunged bodily after him, trying desperately to capture him. "This chick looks older too, you don't want her to think that you're juvenile, do you?"

"No!" Keigo cried out as Mizuiro barely dodged him. "But I do want my phone back!" He howled out and moved forward quicker than before, latching onto Mizuiro's coat and making a grab for the phone. "Give it to me!"

"Never!" Mizuiro cried, before he looked to Ichigo. "Catch!" He called, before using the arm that was free from Keigo's grip to hurl phone to Ichigo.

Reaching in the air, Ichigo caught the phone soundly. Which was a good thing, considering it would have probably flown off the roof if he hadn't. Taking a closer look at the picture, he noticed that this Jackie girl did look a couple of years older than Keigo.

As Keigo came running to him, Ichigo casually kept it out of a reach. He ran through the photo folder just to annoy his friend.

"Ichigo! Give me my damn phone!" Keigo demanded. His breathing had deepened, and he looked far more agitated than Ichigo would have expected him to be. "This shit isn't funny! Give me my phone!"

Ichigo began to stop messing around as he began to realize that Keigo was actually getting upset. Feeling somewhat guilty about the teasing, he stopped moving and handed the phone back to Keigo. "Uh, yeah. Here you go."

Keigo quickly snatched back the device before sulking back over to his lunch tray and ignoring both Ichigo and Mizuiro. The latter moved to stand next to Ichigo as they both shot a look at the retreating Keigo.

"Well someone's feeling sensitive." Mizuiro muttered thoughtfully.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Responded Ichigo. "He was kind of like this yesterday too."

"Mmmm...Have you noticed how weird he's been lately?"

Ichigo frowned as he thought back. Besides yesterday, had he noticed anything off about Keigo? Ichigo couldn't remember anything that particularly stood out. "Nah, but then again, everyone's been weird lately."

Mizuiro sent Ichigo a shrewd look. "That's funny coming from you." Ignoring the look Ichigo ignoring him, Mizuiro walked forward towards the singular Keigo. He tapped the brunette on the shoulder and drew his attention.

"Now, since I have experience with fine females, I'm willing to help you with this lady friend of yours." Mizuiro explained to Keigo. "That is, if you want it."

Keigo looked understandably wary. "Seriously?" He got to his feet when Mizuiro nodded. "I guess I could use...some help."

"Well, first thing you have to understand is that older women are tricky." Mizuiro began, spreading his vast female wisdom for all to hear. "They'll use you man, and throw away your heart if you give them the chance." He threw an arm around Keigo casually. "You have to be careful, their like sharks. Or cougars."

"Now, woman always want fancy–no matter what they may say. A woman might like to just laze around and eat casually, but she'll _love_ to fine dine. Where are you planning on taking this girl?"

"Uhh, I dunno. I was thinking about Denny's or–"

"Denny's!" Mizuiro crowed. He looked appalled at the thought that anyone would eat at Denny's, Ichigo could only agree. "No! Not that. Think finer, like, T.G.I. FRIDAY'S fine, or OutBack Steakhouse fine."

Keigo looked terrified at having to spend that much money. "What? FRIDAY'S? Do you have any idea how expensive their meals are? Their appetizers are like, expensive as hell! The only thing I'd eat at that place is bread!"

Mizuiro just shook his head solemnly, as though Keigo just failed some important test. "And we come to the second revelation: women love money."

"Can't I just take her to a movie or something?"

"Do you want to come off as horribly cliché as well as bad looking?" Mizuiro asked as he began to lead Keigo back into the school, spouting rules and advice the entire way. His victim looked far too overwhelmed to make sense of it all.

This left Ichigo alone again on the roof. He shook his head exasperatedly. "What a whore."

[-]

The rest of the day was awkward to say the least. Ichigo shared the majority of his classes with Tatsuki, and while she wasn't shooting him glares, she wasn't looking at him either. Though the looks he _did_ receive were from her friends, and they weren't all that nice. But still, he was hopeful that things would blow over in the next couple of days.

Ichigo just couldn't approach her right now. Tatsuki has to make the first move when she was ready, and things would go from there. Hopefully they'd go in a better direction then their last few conversations. He wasn't sure how many more bad arguments their friendship could survive.

Mizuiro had eventually gotten Keigo to open up about this Jackie girl, and Ichigo had to suffer through an agonizing day of hearing just how great this chick he didn't even know was. About how she had nice legs and a nice body. And a nice smile. According to Keigo, Jackie was the nicest girl ever.

It was as agonizing as it was annoying.

And to top it all off, the damn sport teams wouldn't leave him the hell alone. While Ichigo was all for playing on the teams so long as he they paid him, he didn't need to be asked in between every damn period either. Ichigo swore if he saw that freshman kid Saizo one more time he was getting thrown into a dumpster. A full dumpster. The kind of dumpster a Hollow might hang around in.

Soon enough some god somewhere, smiled down upon Ichigo and school was over. As the bell rang he grabbed his stuff and began leaving the classroom, making sure to put some distance between himself and Tatsuki.

On his walk down the hall, Keigo and Mizuiro had caught up to him. Keigo was still bringing up Jackie (Ichigo was truly beginning to detest that woman), and Mizuiro was still spouting off advice and helpful pointers whenever he could. Or, at least Ichigo thought that they were pointers. He honestly stopped listening after the 'Seven Different Ways To Land In Seven Different Beds' portion.

Once they had made it to the exit of the building they began toplan on catching each other later, since Ichigo had work, Keigo had to get ready for his date, and Mizuiro probably had four or five girls waiting for him at home.

"Hey! Hey! Kurosaki-senpai!" Ichigo blood boiled at the voice, and he turned slowly to see Saizo, chasing after him.

The boy was smiling and running towards him happily. As though Ichigo _just_ hadn't told him to scram. Like Ichigo hadn't told him to scram at least _four_ times today. This freaking kid was worse then Yuzu and Karin that time they had gotten drunk at the spring festival! And since Saizo wasn't a child or Ichigo's younger sister, the teen had a lot less patience for him.

"_What?_" He growled out at the freshman, though Saizo didn't seem to notice how strangled his voice sounded. "What do you want from me?" Both of Ichigo arms were out before him, as though his hands themselves just wanted to strangle the kid.

"Well, senpai. Mazori-san wanted to know if you were going to train with the soccer team today!" Saizo chirped out helpfully. "He really wants you on the team senpai!"

"Keigo!" Ichigo called out suddenly as he thrust his bag out to the brunette. "Hold my stuff." Not waiting for a reply, he stalked forward and began to crack his knuckles threateningly. He began to loom over the freshman as he boy smiled blindingly in the face of Ichigo's wrath. "I'm about to _wail_ on this kid."

[-]

"Are we going to do this _now?_"

"Is there any reason to wait?"

Uryu frowned at Chad, and sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot today.

School was finished, so Uryu and Chad were standing atop a empty roof in order to speak alone. The duo were discussing Xcution and whether they should try to meet with them today or some other day. Uryu wasn't too keen on meeting them so soon. "Is there any reason to rush?" He shot back.

"Besides the fact that they may go after Ichigo if we wait too long?" Chad question rhetorically before continuing. "If we take too long they may change their number or something once they figure out we're holding onto the card." Chad cast a penetrating gaze. "Why are you so against going?"

Uryu shrugged. He wasn't a fan of just charging into enemy ranks, that was always Kurosaki's job, not his. "It goes against my nature to charge into the unknown, proper preparation is what wins a war."

"Would you rather they come after us?"

"Yes, actually." Uryu admitted. "I'd rather have them come to us and fight on our own terms. But...you're right. I'm being indecisive, if we don't take the fight to them, there's the possibility that too many people will be caught in the crossfire."

Chad held something of a satisfied smile when he handed Uryu the card with Xcution's phone number on it. "Maybe we won't have to fight." He added. "Maybe they really are just trying to help."

Uryu took the card, pulled out his cellphone, and began to dial. "You don't really believe that." There was a lull in the conversation as Uryu held the phone to his ear and waited for someone to pick up.

"_You have reached Xcution," _A cultured voice spoke from the other line. "_The number you are calling from is currently unregistered. Are you a new member? Please speak your name._"

"Kurosaki Ichigo." Uryu tried to make his voice deeper to match Ichigo's. He felt that he did a good job, but the look Chad told him pointed out otherwise. It didn't matter in the end though, as whoever was on the other line seemed to buy it.

"_...Kurosaki-san? We have already been informed about you. Welcome to Xcution._"

[-]

Tatsuki frowned as she leaned against the school wall watching the soccer players practice. She had looked for a head of messy orange hair, but didn't find any. She wasn't sure if that made her happy or not. Probably not.

Just who the hell did Ichigo think he was? How dare he try to play that shit with her? She still couldn't believe that he'd put their relationship on the line for anything like that. That he'd give her an ultimatum like like!

Even with as long as Tatsuki had known Ichigo, he still confused her. It was like he was dead set on ending up dead! One mention of anything supernatural and suddenly he was all over the place and seeing plots and dangers around every corner.

Fighting Hollows and whatever else wasn't the same as fighting some punk thug or wannabe gang member. Battles between the supernatural almost always left destruction in their wake, and Ichigo seemed to have his heart set on being in the middle of it all.

She just didn't understand him anymore. Once upon a time Tatsuki could honestly claim that she knew Ichigo better than almost anyone. She knew him back when he had been a whiny little momma's boy all the way to the punkish teen with a heart of gold.

But sometime after he had gained his powers he had changed.

During his time as a Soul Reaper, Ichigo had been so busy fighting and being secretive that he had pretty much cut everyone out of his life besides Rukia, and that had hurt. Tatsuki had gone from being the most prominent girl in his life to second best because of a girl that no one had even known at the time. But, after a while had gone by Rukia had left.

And Ichigo gave chase.

Even after he had been left dying on a street he had gone after her. Into the heart of a city where almost every single person wanted him dead or imprisoned. Chad, Uryu, and Orihime had followed him, and all of them had almost died several times.

Eventually Ichigo had came back home and Tatsuki had thought that things were going to go back to normal, but everything just became even more different. Ichigo was still horribly secretive and now spent almost all of his time with Chad, Uryu, and Orihime exclusively. There were times were he avoided everyone and where he disappeared off the map all together.

Sure, now she knew why had acted the way that he did. His inner Hollow had been working up and he was preparing for a war, but she hadn't known that then. All she knew was that her best male friend fought horrible monsters during his time off and wasn't talking to her about it.

Tatsuki was still sure that Ichigo had no idea just how horrifying that was to watch. Seeing your friend fighting against monsters several times taller and wider than any human could ever be was heart stopping. Or when Tatsuki would catch the news and find out that some section of the town had been mysteriously destroyed, and knowing in her heart that Ichigo had been a part of it.

And then Rukia came back.

Suddenly Ichigo was doing better then he had before and didn't look just as horrible anymore. Rukia was accepted into Ichigo's group with open arms while she, Keigo, and everyone watched on the sidelines ignorant of what was really going on.

But while things seemed to become better with Ichigo, things were going down the drain everywhere else. With Rukia back again, Orihime had almost stopped speaking with Tatsuki entirely, instead choosing to train and discuss things with Rukia. And soon enough, Orihime was kidnapped.

And once again Ichigo was off, running into proverbial hell. Dragging his other friends with him and almost dying more times then Tatsuki ever wanted to think about. But in the end, he had gotten Orihime and the whole situation between Aizen had gone down.

Tatsuki repressed a shudder. She still didn't know everything that had happened during that event, but she never wanted to either. That day was such a mix or complete horror and confusion that Tatsuki hardly ever liked thinking about it.

And during all that complete terror came Ichigo. And what preceded his arrival was the kind of battle only spoken of in Greek mythology and Final Fantasy games. Complete with multiple boss transformations and one final attack.

Soon the bad guy had been defeated, Ichigo lost his powers, and the town had been saved. It was something out of a fantasy book, and everyone was supposed to live happily ever after, right? Wrong. In reality everyone was completely confused, Ichigo was in a coma, and the town was torn to shreds.

The hero was a mess when he finally woke up. He hadn't taken the fall from godhood to mortal all that well, though Tatsuki couldn't blame him. He had been on top of the world one minute, and a normal person the next.

And so Rukia was gone, and Tatsuki was left to pick up the pieces; Ichigo had been shattered pretty good too. She had to deal with nightmares about the final battle, worrying about Aizen being released or escaping from his prison, any of Aizen's remaining minions attacking, and the fact that Ichigo expected a hollow to be around every corner.

Tatsuki understood those fears. Hell, she had some of them herself! But...Ichigo hadn't ever really gotten any better. Or if he had, not in the way that Tatsuki had hoped he would. She knew that it was unrealistic for her to hope that everything would go back to normal, too much time had gone by and too many things had changed, but she still had held onto that belief.

And for the most part, it seemed that things had almost been back to the way they were, except for Ichigo. Most of he time he was fine, but Tatsuki knew that he wasn't all there. He began to fight more than ever, and almost always alone. Tatsuki didn't know if he was trying to keep his skills sharp, or just venting whatever anger he had on gangs of thugs.

Tatsuki knew, she _knew_ that he still wanted to fight Hollows; and that angered and terrified her at the same time. It was like being a normal person wasn't good enough for him anymore, and he was just waiting to regain those powers and charge into whatever problem there was.

Right to Rukia.

Tatsuki groaned. Maybe it wasn't that she didn't know who Ichigo was anymore, but that she didn't like who he was choosing to become.

"Tatsuki-chan!" A chipper voice chirped, and Tatsuki turned to see the ever happy Inoue Orihime. "What are you doing here all by yourself?" The girl jogged over to where Tatsuki was standing to lean on the wall beside her.

Tatsuki was suddenly very aware of a very vindictive feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. It would be so easy, _so easy_ to just tell what she knew to Orihime and have her, Chad, and Uryu to force the truth out of Ichigo. So. Easy.

But her old friend's words haunted her. He had said that he would never speak to her again, had he been serious? He had sounded serious enough, but would he really go through with the threat? Did she really want to risk it? She would be throwing away years of friendship if she went through with it...?

"Nothing, just wasting time until I have to go to work."

Damn.

[-]

"Alright Ichigo-chan! Ready for work today?" Called Ikumi as Ichigo stepped into the break room. He nodded his confirmation as he dropped down onto the couch bodily. He was tempted to put his feet up on the coffee table, but decided against it.

"What are we doing today?"

But the phone on a nearby counter began to rang, causing Ikumi to run over to it and answer instead of Ichigo. "Hello!" She called out boisterously, sounding far louder then anyone would ever like to hear. "Cheap! Fast! Safe! That's Unagiya Shop!"

Ikumi's face, which had been set in a happy smile, quickly transformed to one of annoyance. "Two orders of the extra special quality! This isn't an eel shop you twit!" She waited to hear a replay before continuing. "What menu are you reading this from!"

Ignoring Ikumi in favor of staring at the ceiling, Ichigo leaned back into the couch and began to rest his eyes. He only opened them again after Ikumi slammed the phone back into it's receiver. "You really should change the name of this place."

"Hell no. I won't disrespect my ancestors like that!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Not your name, the shop's name!" Because working at a place named "Eel" was so lame. Not that Ichigo worried about what other people thought of the store, he just felt that the name was stupid.

"I refuse." Ikumi spoke resolutely, and Ichigo knew it was a lost cause.

There was a knock on the door, and Ikumi called for whoever was knocking to come in. The bell on the entrance jingled as the door opened, and footsteps sounded loudly on the floor. Ichigo turned to greet the newcomer, and take in his appearance.

His hair was long, dark, and probably combed or jelled back. The jacket he was wearing was leather with a fur collar, and he was wearing black plants. He greeted Ichigo and Ikumi warmly. "Hey there!" He said with a smile as he held out his hand. "My name is Ginjo."

Feeling a slight bit of déjà vu, Ichigo leaned forward to grasp the man's hand cordially. "Hey." He greeted, before letting his hand fall back to his side. "Name's Ichigo." Hey jerked a thumb over to Ikumi. "And that's my boss, Ikumi-san."

"Welcome to Unagiya Shop. What can we do for you?"

"Oh, right." Ginjo checked the pockets on his coat for something as he nodded towards a chair. "Do you mind if I have a seat?" As Ikumi shook her head, Ginjo sat down before pulling out a small poleriod photo. "You guys do any kind of jobs, right?"

"Yep." Ikumi stated proudly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "We here at Unagiya can do anything, anywhere, during any time, and at any price." She looked rather proud of her on the spot slogan.

Ichigo couldn't help but ruin it for her. "Don't say 'we at Unagiya.' There the two of us and your whiny ass daughter." He did enjoy getting a raise out of Ikumi. "You make it sound like your running a corporation or something. We're a small-ass corner store."

Ginjo watched the scene with a small grin, and held up his hand as if he were in a classroom to gain their attention. "Uhh, excuse me?" He lowered his hand when both Ichigo and Ikumi turned to him. "As amusing as this is, can we get to business? The job I want you guys to take is pretty important."

He lowered the photo onto the coffee table and turned it around so both Ichigo and Ikumi could see what it was a picture of. Ichigo eyes widened in surprised at it it was: Harry, with his arms around the shoulders of a smaller boy in a brotherly embrace. In Harry hand was a black handheld video game console, and he was holding it away from the other boy teasingly.

"This..." The smile fell from Ginjo's face as he began to speak. "Is a picture of Harry James Potter. Or, Potter Harry if you wanna go about it the normal way. He's been missing for a while now, and I want you to try and find him."

"Do you know why he left? Was he kidnapped or forced?" Ikumi had turned uncharacteristically serious as she leaned forward to put up the photo and inspect it. "Do you think that he's here in particular, or are you just looking everywhere?"

Ginjo tried to smile disarmingly once more, but something was different about it from before. "We're not sure. I'm part of an...organization of sorts, and Harry disappeared shortly before our leader did. Let's just say that Harry's exit was a...violent one."

Ichigo was beginning to somewhat panic. His words began to bounce around painfully in his skull as he struggled to listen to what Ginjo was saying. _A gang of spiritually empowered humans._ That's what Harry had discribed them as. And that's what it was sounding like. Harry had said that there was a spiritual gang running around, not that he was a member!

Was this guy just playing with him? Did he not know who Ichigo was? Was he just screwing with his head before killing him and Ikumi? Did he really not know where Harry was? Was Ginjo here because he thought Ichigo knew where Harry was staying?

But Ichigo did know where Harry was staying. Was there a chance that Ginjo would just leave if Ichigo gave him what he wanted? Hardly. While Ichigo may be weaker and rusty, he wasn't stupid. Bad guys never just let people go after they get what they want.

But of course, Ichigo's frantic inner scrambling didn't reflect in his voice or on his face, both were as calm as he could possibly make them. "An organization? More like a gang." Ichigo leaned forward and tried to be as intimidating as possible without Ikumi catching on. "Organizations have bosses, only _gangs_ have leaders."

Ginjo looked at Ichigo in surprise, before his smile widened just a little bit more, and Ichigo felt that he had just made a rather large mistake. "Yeah..._Harry_ always did call us that. A gang." His eyes drilled into Ichigo's. "Didn't stop him from joining though."

"Has Harry contacted you, Ichigo-san?" Ginjo question easily, as if they were discussing yesterday's weather. "Me and my friends had thought so, but we couldn't be sure. Would you mind telling me where he is?"

There it was, the question that Ichigo had been dreading. If Ichigo told the man nothing then he was probably going to be killed, and if he did give up the information then he would still probably be killed. Either way he was going to lose. He probably couldn't fight him, and definitely not with Ikumi in the room.

Did he really want to spend what might be the last moments of his life being a coward? And even if ichigo was let go, he would never be able to live this down. Kurosaki Ichigo was many things, but a coward was never one of them. He had never backed out from a fight and he had never sold anyone out either, and he'd be damned if he started now.

Ichigo's body was tensed so completely that it was beginning to hurt. His hands were clenched so tightly that they were shaking a bit. But his glare was diamond sharp and his face was set in stone. "_No._" He practically spat the word at Ginjo. "I haven't."

"I see." Ginjo spoke solemnly as he began to raise from his seat.

"Ikumi. Leave." Ichigo jumped to his feet, only tearing his eyes away from Ginjo to glare at Ikumi when he realized that she was still in the room. "Ikumi. Leave!" The woman looked between Ichigo and Ginjo in confusion, wondering what was going on. "Leave! Didn't you hear me!"

"Ichigo, what the hell is going on?" She had started to get up also, and looked warily at Ginjo. "What the hell aren't you telling me?"

"Yeah Ichigo, why all the hostility?" Ginjo grinned at him happily before reaching into his coat. "What did Harry tell you about me, that caused all this? Because, really, you should be more worried about him. He's the one that tried to kill his friends after all." From an inner coat pocket he retrieved a black card that he threw on the coffee table carelessly. "There, your dark friend, Chad is it? He must not have gotten this to you yesterday."

"What?" Ichigo bit out harshly, his teeth were gritted and his jaws were clenched. "What didn't he give me?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you? Sorry." He shrugged, before sending Ichigo an understanding smile. "You should probably pick your friends better." He shrugged once again before dropping the subject. "I bet Harry gave you the speech right? About how every isn't as alright as it seems and how he'll show you the light? Well, contrary to what he may tell you, I'm the good guy here. All he wants to do is draw you into another war."

"Yeah? And what do you want?"

"Why, to restore your powers. That's what you want, isn't it?" A low ringing filed the room, and Ginjo pulled a cellphone from his pocket. "Hello? What is it, Giriko?" Ginjo nodded along, as though he wasn't in a room that was overflowing with tension. "Oh...Two of them, huh? That is pretty funny. Where's Riruka? Out getting food, huh? Alright, I'll be right there."

Closing the phone and shoving it back into a pocket, Ginjo turned back to Ichigo and Ikumi, sending them a regretful look. "Sorry guys, we're gonna have to cut this a little short. I have some problems back home that need taking care of."

He turned and began to saunter out of the room, looking for all the world like he just had the most pleasant conversation in existence. "Bye-bye Ichigo-san. Remember to keep in touch!" He sent them a small wave before stepping out of the building and into Karakura Town.

As the bell jingled and door shut, Ichigo released a deep breath before turning to Ikumi. His boss looked angry, confused, and worried. Which pretty much described how Ichigo felt also.

"Ichigo, what the hell was all that about?" Her hand were on her hips and she glared at him, daring him to try and not tell her the truth. "What the hell was that whole conversation? Why were you so afraid of him, who was that guy, and who's the guy he's looking for?"

Frowning at the afraid comment (he hadn't been afraid, he'd been worried), Ichigo ignored her as he snatched up the card Ginjo had thrown and went to gather his bag. Once he had all of his stuff he made a move to leave, but was forced to stop as Ikumi placed herself in front of her.

"What the hell is going on, Ichigo?" She was beginning to sound less demanding and more comforting, it was probably a mom thing. "Do you owe money to gang members? Are you in a gang? Was that guy dangerous?"

"No, no, and incredibly." Ichigo grunted as he pushed her to the side as gently as he could afford. "I suggest you take you take you kid, and leave town for a couple days. Or weeks. Probably weeks." He began to to walk forward and and speak over his shoulder. "Go on vacation or something, you don't want to be in the middle of this!"

"Wait, if that guy is dangerous why are you following him?" Ikumi called after him as she began to follow. "Go to the police! You're being stupid!"

"The police won't be able to help with this kind of thing, and don't worry, I'm not following him!" Ichigo had reached the door when Ikumi got her final word out.

"If the police can't do anything, then do you honestly think you can!

"No. Not yet." Ichigo whispered to himself and her. His hand gripped the doorknob and he opened it slowly. "But I will."

[-]

Harry sat up suddenly, someone had entered his perimeter ward. He had been laying down on his bed watching cable (two hundred something channels and he still couldn't find anything worth watching) when he felt the buzz of his ward warning him.

Harry got to his feet and prepared for a fight or an escape. His right wand was being gripped in his hand and he summoned the duffel bag from across the room. He tensed as his door began to unlock, but could only smirk as it opened to reveal an orange haired teenager.

"Well, well, well...Hello Ichigo."

"_A defender is someone who protects, and a warrior is someone who battles. Neither of these things make you a hero, even though many hero's have these qualities. A hero isn't a person that win's the fight, or defeats the bad guy. A hero is someone who brings change._

_That is why I will never call myself a hero._

-Harry Potter

Author's Note:

Damn the beginning of this chapter pissed me off. The confrontation between Tatsuki and Ichigo was supposed to go off with their friendship getting better, not worse. But whenever I wrote it, it always ended with them pissed at each other. I'm pretty sure my annoyance leaked into my writing also. I really hate this chapter. Guess that just shows how far I have go in writing.

About Tatsuki and Rukia: Tatsuki doesn't hate Rukia. She isn't even really jealous of her either. It's just that Rukia is pretty much the physical representation of everything Tatsuki _does_ hate: the Spirit World in general. Tatsuki wasn't a part of any of the major adventures, so all she has are second hand accounts of what had happened, and she doesn't like any of it.

Would you want your friends to battle giant monsters and almost die on an regular basis? Or be almost killed by Soul Reapers? For example: Ichigo and everyone may say that Byakuya is a good guy, since they know him personally. But in their stories all Tatsuki hears is: Dude stabbed Ichigo and left him dying in the street. Then he tried to kill Ichigo later, before promising to kill his own sister.

And all of Tatsuki's anger and annoyance revolves around Rukia because Tatsuki feels that all of Ichigo's problems stem from the fact that Rukia couldn't do her job. It doesn't help that she feels that for a while, Rukia stole her place in Ichigo's life. After all, when Rukia and Ichigo first teamed up, Ichigo basically ignored his friends to battle Hollows and thus, spent all his time with Rukia.

And because of Hollow hunting and spiritual world issues, Ichigo basically left his original friends in the dust for a while because he was busy trying to save the town. Of course, none of his normal friends knew this. All they knew was that Ichigo wasn't speaking to them, and that he fought giant monsters in his free time.

Then Orihime was kidnapped and shit just got worse from there. Namely, Aizen. The first major spiritual person Tatsuki meets has to be the worst dude in history. And then he made it worse by trying to kill her.

Damn, did I just waste my entire AN talking about Tatsuki's feelings? I was planning on using it to complain about people never shutting up about Skyrim. Oh, and how I totally CALLED IT about how Ichigo was being monitored by people. I'm like, a genie or something.

Laters


End file.
